It's Official

[OCCarly]

Today I met with my therapist, spent an hour telling her my life story, and was diagnosed with gender dysphoria. So now it is official. I am transgender.

Next session coming up May 12.

[Rianna Humble]

Not trying to put a dampener on things, but I hope this wasn't your first session with the therapist.

I am always wary of any therapist who will jump to conclusions after just one hour.

[pamela7]

congratulations. And i'll echo Rianna, as I have come out of a (now) one-off session with a psychiatrist who has written to me stating he does not support my process, despite saying in the room he did. Spitting feathers, I be.

[I Am Paula]

I got my HRT letter after an hour with the therapist. As she said:
I was very near to full time already.
I had been out in public for twenty years.
I went to appt. as I usually present (female)
I was 54 years old.
I had read everything available about HRT and transition. I knew my stuff.
She could see I was very comfortable in my own skin.

She gave the HRT letter, diagnosed (for what that was worth, I pretty much knew going in), and signed me up for Government vagina all in the same day. I also told her to make a note that I was officially starting real life experience, and she just replied with 'Honey, your RLE is long over'.

A good gender therapist can make up his/her mind pretty quickly. This was just my case. Her next patient might take many more sessions.

[Sometimes Steffi]

Not trying to put a dampener on things, but I hope this wasn't your first session with the therapist.

I am always wary of any therapist who will jump to conclusions after just one hour.

I have to agree, unless it was like Paula.

One therapist told me after the 1st hour that I was gay. I didn't think so, but like any good engineer, I ran an experiment. I was working out 3 days a week, and changing in the locker room. I assumed that if I was gay, I should get some sort of "turn on" by seeing naked men. I didn't.

I sought out a therapist with gender experience. After a few sessions, I told her about the gay "diagnosis".

She said:

1. In my considered opinion, you're not gay.
2. It was irresponsible for the other therapist to diagnose me as gay after 1 session.

Please just take this as my opinion, not a "diagnosis".

[Lauri K]

While I am a procrastinator of sorts regarding therapists, I do not think that in 1 hour or 100 hours therapists or others can relate to what we feel inside with a lifetime of having GD

I think a lot of it is just going thru the process of WPATH / SOC, or otherwise we would go get HRT and other procedures under informed consent.

We all need support and I am not knocking therapy, but I am skeptical of their success rate on good diagnosis

[Rianna Humble]

I am sick to death with people using "informed consent" as an alternative to standards of care, when they really mean "buy my way around any safeguards"

If a practitioner is following standards of care, then they will also practice proper informed consent whereby the patient is given the pros and cons of a course of action then consents to or refuses that treatment.

[Anne2345]

So now it is official. I am transgender.

And this is a good thing?

[LeaP]

That is *exactly* right, Rianna.



... By the way, did anyone else just see a ghost?

[Starling]

Unfortunately I didn't see a ghost, Lea. You must have a high level of E--ectoplasm, that is.

Carly, I understand your desire to have "officially" confirmed what you already felt inside, and your satisfaction upon receiving it. Turning your life upside-down is a big effing deal! I agree with others here who advise you to carry on with your therapy, because that hoped-for answer you received leads to a thousand more questions about how to go on. You didn't say whether your therapist was a gender specialist. I hope she is, because knowledge of gender variations is changing and expanding so rapidly that no generalist could possibly keep up with it all--or, most importantly, separate the valuable insights from the simple prejudices. Good luck!

Lallie

[PretzelGirl]

And this is a good thing?

It can be for some. I am feeling so real that I am loving it. Unless I am burying something deep in me, I can say it is a good thing for me.

... By the way, did anyone else just see a ghost?

About time, isn't it? A ghost with something new....

[Kate T]

I am wary of anyone telling me who I am and what I feel.

A therapist / Psych should be helping you and giving you the tools to learn about yourself and understand yourself. Only you can "diagnose" whether you are Trans or not.

Paula, your therapist didn't need to do any diagnosing or any work at all. She was merely a facilitator for gaining access to the necessary assistance to resolve your GD. Thats not a bad thing or a good thing necessarily, it just is.

[Anne2345]

By the way, did anyone else just see a ghost?

wooooOOOooooOoooooOooo . . . .

A ghost with something new....

lol!

[jentay1367]

That's really it, isn't it Kate. If you know....giving them your resources which could otherwise be used for transition, seems inane and a waste. There is a difference between confirmation for access purposes and therapy for sorting out your identity. Not knowing which the OP is, I'm disinclined to judge or even comment.

[JessieA]

I've always thought a good therapist gets you to ask the right questions not to answer them. So therapy is a journey you take together and you don't know the destination till you get there.

[becky77]

Is she an experienced Gender therapist?

Also Transgender is an umbrella term it doesn't mean anything other than some level of gender non-conformity.

Btw next session see what she makes of this:

One of the things that led me to realize that deep down inside, I really am a girl, is simply this -- every time I see an unappealing woman, I always think about all the ways I could improve on her looks, dress, and presentation if I were living inside her body.

[Melissa Rose]

Carly, while it is not my purpose to rain on your parade, I also have concerns about the therapist and how transgender is being defined. Since you are posting in the Transsexual forum, I am assuming the definition you are using is being female identified as a biological male. I am doubtful a qualified therapist can make a good, final assessment in only one session except for some specific cases. If the very broad definition is being used then the therapist is correct since you are a cross dresser by self admission.

One of the best descriptions of a good therapist or counselor I have encountered is they help you to more clearly see reality - your reality. They do not create or define reality for you; they do not confirm or deny what you believe or tell you what to believe; they do not define you or make you feel good about yourself; they do not directly encourage or discourage you, but they enable you to have clearer thoughts and make honest assessments about your emotions and feelings. They help clear away the clutter and fog so you can get to a place where you can make a solid, factual, clear and uncluttered assessment of yourself. With this clarity comes the ability for you to come to solid conclusions and make good decisions. I am quite skeptical if your therapist has done any of this. Some of this is based on some of your other posts especially in the cross dresser section of this forum. In addition to the one referenced by Becky, there is

I've had intermittent problems with the bottle since I was nineteen, binge drinking to get away from myself. But since I started dressing over a year ago, I haven't touched a drop. There are six beers in the fridge that have sat there for a year, untouched. I just totally lost the desire and the cravings since I started dressing. Which is probably proof that I am transgender.

IMHO, I do not get the sense your view of TS transgender is connected to reality. In your case, I think many more sessions are necessary before any form of clarity and a better understanding of yourself as transgender is truly obtained. There are too many red flags that says otherwise.

[Nigella]

What annoys me is that this member posted this thread 05/03/16, has been online since then and hasn't even bothered to respond or look at the thread, its done.