I don't believe what I read

[Billijo49504]

Today I had to go to the VA to pick up some meds. While waiting for my number to come up. I started talking to some of the people there. One lady was well versed in the effect of PTSD. She had a list of about 50 or 60 items. And about 3/4 of the way down, I stopped to reread what I saw. "Gender identity and or crossdressing or transgender issues." After reading that, I didn't pay much attention to the rest of the items. Has anyone else heard anything about this?...BJ

[Kathi Lake]

Nope! I started dressing long before my many deployments.

PTSD. Psh! As if I needed an excuse for my dressing, like it was an illness or a symptom. It's a choice - and a great one, in my book!

:)

Kathi

[sissystephanie]

I started dressing at age 6 or 7! The military had not caught up with me at that time!

I dress because I like to, not because of some disorder!! Just like Kathi!

[Kate Simmons]

Close but no cigar and this here gal likes her see-gars. I was in and out of the Army before they even had a fancy name for that stuff. Like the others it had nothing to do with my CDing.:)

[Chris7ina]

Sounds like BS to me. Former military here and liked girly things before I went in and still like them now that I'm out.

[docrobbysherry]

I've been there what, a thousand times? Never have seen anyone even CLOSE to a CD looking person there! :eek:

[Schatten Lupus]

I know an Iraq vet who suffers from PTSD, and I'm pretty sure this guy doesn't fall into any transgender catagory.
To me that sounds like someone found as many correlations as they could, but didn't bother to go through with actual research.

[giuseppina]

If a transgender has PTSD, it didn't come from being transgender. It came from a traumatic event or series of events, like abuse directed at the transgendered person. Sometimes a car accident is a trigger.

One need not be a transgender to have PTSD. Traumatic events in childhood is a reliable indicator, but not the only one, of mental health issues later in life. It need not be one single event, but it can be abuse spread over a period of many years.

[JulieK1980]

Maybe it came about from a number of them using that as an excuse to get out?

[joanna marie]

I'm a vietnam vet that knows first hand about PTSD,
But I started dressing a long time before I ever enlisted.

[RobynP]

A person with PTSD does not have to be in the military or in combat to have PTSD. It was first observed in the military. However, anyone that goes through any type of traumatic stress at any age might suffer from it.

Robyn

[Sandra Dunn]

Well if that was ture I wonder if I could get VA health benefits? Thanks to Bush I was cut out of the VA health program, not enough time.

Jody you might be correct about that, anybody remember MASH?

Sandra

[victoriamwilliams1]

First I am not a military person however PTSD could be a trigger and I said could be! When you think of the mind where if a person who has PTSD could either seek a way to deal with the stress and they may try dressing as a way to deal with it as many of us do dress more with stress and find it relaxing. PTSD has caused some vets to turn to drugs and increased alcohol to deal with it and I have heard stories about war from my grandfather who was in WWII and though he is very normal even in his 90's he did have issues with fireworks and from what I have heard I understand why people get post traumatic stress syndrome and find ways to suppress it.

[rachael131]

I've never heard of this before, but some people still need an excuse for what they do that is different from the "norm". I'm a Nam Vet and I was dressing way before that, even though I didn't fully understand it until many years later. I am now fully comfortable with my alter self.

[DonnaT]

Don't forget, some on this forum have admitted turning to dressing as a way to relieve stress.

Just about anything can be a trigger.

If a person is trans, and doesn't know it because the trigger has never been pulled, they will never know it until something does trigger a dressing episode. Like donning a girdle or a pair of panties for the first time as a child.

Don't see why PTSD couldn't be one reason. But it's likely they were unknowingly trans in the first place.

[amanda w]

I am allso a nam vet and i started dressing at about age 5 or 6. after nam i know what PTSD is and it is not good but the dressing sure makes life all good.its a way to deal with stress but its more than that i just know it is right for me

[JulieK1980]

Well if that was ture I wonder if I could get VA health benefits? Thanks to Bush I was cut out of the VA health program, not enough time.

Jody you might be correct about that, anybody remember MASH?

Sandra

Mash was the first thing that came to my mind when I read this thread! haha!

But I remember when I was in, quite a few people claimed to be gay, or crossdressers to get discharged, and dressing fell into the pysch category, thus it wouldn't surprise me if the VA was making an inaccurate coorralation between the two......

[kimdl93]

I started dressing at age 6 or 7! The military had not caught up with me at that time!

I dress because I like to, not because of some disorder!! Just like Kathi!

I can't blame the Army either - I never was shot at, mortared or otherwise imperilled. and as SS says above, I my interest in dressing began long before I enlisted.

[susanCD123]

I loved to dress way before I spent 20 years in the FD, and dealt with a lot of stress. I still remember a lot of traumatic events, I always did what I could. Just think girls, when you see the news and there is a big fire, some of the male firefighters are wearing panties under their bunker gear. Please, any firefighters, PM me? It's all fun, and it is interesting and exciting. Interesting post, but I don't believe it, I think we are born this way. Love,
Susan.

[Joanie_Shakti]

I was an army brat, does that count? :D

I do wonder though, as I was often beaten with a belt for punishment and my little sister never got spanked, if my desire to have been born female has something to do with that. It was certainly stressful and somewhat tramuatic.

[erickka]

I too startded to dress at age 6 or 7, and the only military I really knew about were those little green plastic army men! LOL

[carhill2mn]

Yes, I have read about vets going to VA hospital en femme.

[sometimes_miss]

PTSD doesn't cause a change in gender feelings; but stress of any kind can interfere with how we cope with feelings we are usually able to suppress. It's the same with anything; best example is we are more likely to lash out at someone when irritated, because our resistance to their idiotic behavior is reduced by other stressors we are exposed to.

[HannahF6]

PTSD and crossdressing, don't know what the link might be. Max Klinger