my first little baby step

[roberta c]

im making my first baby step to coming out the closet in the last few months living two separate lives rob and roberta is starting to become a bit depressing and i have decided to start my path to telling every one so this morning i made my self an appointment to see my GP i am hoping he can put me in tuch with some therapy.

has anyone else in the uk told there GP and if so what did they do to help?

thank roberta
P.S my appointment is tomoro and im VERY nervous!! lol

[suzy1]

Hi Roberta.
I am sorry that living two lives, Rob and Roberta is making you depressed.
I too live two lives, Suzy and the other me. But I love my life this way.
I can only think there is some sort of guilt about crossdressing that is affecting you this way.
I am probably wrong. But at least I can wish you all the best and hope it works out for you.
Not much help was I.

Hugs, SUZY

[Nigella]

Your GP may have no knowledge of the transgendered community. This is not unusual. The first port of call for your GP should be to ascertain if your local PCT will fund any "treatment". This part is critical to you as without NHS funding you may have to pay for any "treatments" yourself. Secondly, I believe that your GP can refer you to a local mental health professional to obtain an opinion as to whether you are a transsexual or a crossdresser.

Apart from that, that will be almost the limit of your GPs involvement in the short term. IF you are funded, and IF you are considered TS, then your care will be taken over by a Gender Identity Clinic.

[NicoleScott]

Crossdressing can be treated? It's a mental disorder?

[Nigella]

Nicole, I did put " " infront of and after treatment :) As for mental health professional, this is a consultant psychiatrist, it is, to the best of my knowledge, a prerequisit for any treatment on the National Health Service.

[Rianna Humble]

im making my first baby step to coming out the closet in the last few months living two separate lives rob and roberta is starting to become a bit depressing and i have decided to start my path to telling every one so this morning i made my self an appointment to see my GP i am hoping he can put me in touch with some therapy.

has anyone else in the uk told there GP and if so what did they do to help?

thank roberta
P.S my appointment is tomoro and im VERY nervous!! lol


Sorry for coming to this so late, not sure why I did not see it before.

Yes, it can be nerve wracking to go and discus something like this with your GP, but they are the best placed to get you the professional support you will need for your depression.

When I first approached my GP it was to tell her that I am TS and ask her for help. I did not know how to start even after I got there, but in the end it all just came pouring out. She tld me that I was the first TS person she had helped from day 1 (although she had helped people who were already in transition) and asked if I would let her take the journey with me.

She consulted some colleagues who have more experience in gender therapy and got me an appointment with the local mental healt trust so that they could make sure that my dysphoria was not caused by a mental illness. Once that hurdle wa sover, she sent a referal to the Charing Cross Gender Clinic and got the ball riolling to apply for funding to treat my dysphoria.



Your GP may have no knowledge of the transgendered community. This is not unusual. The first port of call for your GP should be to ascertain if your local PCT will fund any "treatment". This part is critical to you as without NHS funding you may have to pay for any "treatments" yourself. Secondly, I believe that your GP can refer you to a local mental health professional to obtain an opinion as to whether you are a transsexual or a crossdresser.

Apart from that, that will be almost the limit of your GPs involvement in the short term. IF you are funded, and IF you are considered TS, then your care will be taken over by a Gender Identity Clinic.

As explained to me, the role of the mental health professional was also to discount mental defect or illness as the cause of my symptoms.


Crossdressing can be treated? It's a mental disorder?

You may have overlooked the fact that Roberta's situation was causing depression. Depression is an illness that can be treated.

Any form of therapy is also a "treatment" and under the National Health System has to be funded by someone (either the Primary Care Trust or the individual with or without the aid of insurance).

Given the number of times that people on these forums recommend therapy to people who have any sort of issue with their cross-dressing, I do not understand why you object to the concept of this treatment being made available.

[roberta c]

Hey thanks for your input i went to see my g pi was fine right up to the point my name was called and everything i wanted to say disappeared from my head lol but i did tell him and he as amazing we said I’m not the only one and he walked me thru the steps of what was going to happen the first thing he said was to put me in touch with the mental health and counselling team and so from there that was the first time I had told some about it. Few days after i told my close friend about it she was very excepting she has been helping out with different styles and has ask me to go on a girl’s night out I really want to say yes but i don’t think i am ready