Under-dressing and Eye Contact with Therapist, Your Thought?

I haven't gone to therapy either dressed or under dressed for over 10 months because I haven't felt the need (doing barre and pole dancing has seemed to meet my needs). Today when i got there I felt the urge/need to throw on a sports bra when I arrived (I had one in my car that I planned to start wearing when pole picks up again in the fall). About mid session I mentioned the bra to my therapist and that my feeling once I got in her office was that I really didn't think the bra was doing much for me.
She said "Well this is very interesting because I noticed that today your eye contact has been so much more direct and that your body language is a bit different than it has been of late." She said she had not noticed the sports bra. We discussed this some more and the plan is to see if just by being conscious about increasing eye contact, whether I can replicate how I acted today.
Curious what others here may think or if anyone has had a similar thing happen to them? Be kind, thanks

Sounds like you are making great strides confidence is improving keep up the good work

I think the stride of confidence will work better when you can go dressed

I think I may have confused everyone. My question is do any of you notice a change in how often you make eye contact with others when you compare being dressed/under-dressed to when you are just en-male or drab?

My therapist noticed an obvious difference during this session and then I mentioned about my wearing a sports bra to my session that day and she then mentioned about how much more eye contact I was making with her compared to my recent sessions which i went to without under dressing.

Your thoughts?

Sara, your therapist is trained to look for these things as part of her professional activity. There are also detais of your relationship with your therapist that are not known to us, as they're none of our business.

The degree of eye contact folks make with others will vary from individual to individual, as will the other person's acknowledgement of said eye contact.

What I'm trying to say is that there's no way your question can be answered conclusively one way or another. Sorry.

Xox,

Tina V.

Sara, I see an issue in your post that seems more important than the question to us u repeated. I've read several threads lately where T's r visiting their therapist for what seem to me to be superficial reasons.

U mentioned u saw no reason to visit your therapist, but did anyway. Why? Simply to wear a bra while with her? A counselor's roll should be to help u solve problems. Is looking people in the eye a problem for u? Or, were u simply chatting and testing your fem gear out on her? If so, she is wasting your $$. She's NOT supposed to be your friend and confidant, but your adviser and helper!:thumbsup:

As to your question, I suspect looking people in the eye has to do with each person's comfort level. When I'm comfortable I speak directly with who I'm with no matter how I'm dressed!:daydreaming:

For me, putting on my bra means immediate transformation of mindset. A bra is the most uniquely feminine article of clothing and I have come to associate wearing a bra (any bra) to switching to feminine mode. That translates to my walk, talk, mannerisms, and whole persona! I am not surprised about you looking the therapist directly in the eyes since, while wearing that sports bra, you were mentally no longer a "guilty crossdresser" but now were acting and thinking like a woman without inhibitions! Go Girl!

Sara,
Would it be pushing the boat out too far and attending fully dressed ? I'm only suggesting this to see how much difference it makes with your interaction with your therapist .

As another mentioned when she attended partly dressed her therapist didn't make anything of it . In my reply to her I said that she was possibly in the wrong job if she had a problem with seeing someone dressed . It might be interesting to raise that question on the forum .

Whatever the difference the clothes made , it does suggest that you do show how the stress is reduced by slipping on female clothes . The point is you are walking into a situation without DADT so perhaps your DADT is having a greater effect on you than you realised .

Doc,
I chose to wear a sports bra because I wanted to at the time and therapy is a place I can do so or not depending on my choice. I always go to therapy for a reason as I did this time and during the session she noticed the eye contact change. I later mentioned my under dressing (I see her for a variety of issues) and she mentioned to correlation. My therapist is not my friend and but she does need to be your confidant or else you can't share your true feelings!
There were no superficial reasons for my visit, they were all pertinent and important! thanks for your reply

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Teresa, I have gone to therapy many times fully dressed when the opportunity and desire exist. The interesting part of this session was how independently she noticed the eye contact change and then learned of the sports bra so we are now looking into the why and whats...