Gid

[Tammy V]

Name a medical disorder that when a person follows the medically prescribed treatment for the disorder, a typical reaction of spouses, family and friends is to turn their backs on the person seeking treatment or urge them to deny treatment. In fact that reaction is so typical that it is the norm. People often hide in shame or go into denial for fear of losing the loves ones whose support they so desperately need.

I can only name one such disorder off the top of my head.

[Angela Campbell]

It is true. Only because most people know nothing about it and do not believe it to be real. Unless you are born with it it is hard to comprehend.

[Julie Gaum]

For centuries there was another called leprosy. But you do put the problem faced into a different light --- very good (but very sad).
Julie

[Angela Campbell]

I don't think Leprosy counts. As the standard treatment long ago was to send you away and your friends and family would likely accept the treatment and urge you to take it not urge you to deny it. Nowdays it is treated with antibiotics and the same holds true. No one is going to tell you to deny the treatment.

[Tammy V]

I think leprosy is a disease and I am speaking of disorders. Also, leprosy was contagious and this one is not.

[Angela Campbell]

Are you sure I didn't catch this from some tranny?

[Jodi Anne]

The thing is the more of us to follow this to the natural conclusion, being a woman, the more this will be the new norm for those with GD.
My therapist had said there is an explosion in the TS world here in the states.

[KellyJameson]

I have always been overwhelmed by the level of intolerance in a political system supposedly based on individual liberty, justice and the pursuit of happiness.

The hypocrisy in western civilization is profound.

[Marleena]

@ Jodi Anne there also seems to be a TS explosion on this board lately.:D


Anyways I can understand people not getting TS people or the GID. You have to experience this crap to really know what's going on. They see a man until one starts transition and then it ends up WTF? I have a hard time understanding it myself.

[Angela Campbell]

If there has been an explosion it is likely because there is more information easily available now than ever before. It is also less of a hidden thing these days. There has always been trans people even before there was any way to do anything about it. They just stayed hidden.

It is difficult also to explain to someone who has known you for many years that you are this way, they have no way to understand this is not a sudden thing. No comprendo. If someone cannot understand that this was a lifelong thing they will never accept it therefore they will not encourage you to accept the medical advice of transition. Until more people really know just what this really is this will remain the way it is.

[LeaP]

Tammy, this is a really interesting observation. I can't think of another ... but will go through the DSM at some point.

[Kaitlyn Michele]

its not "their" fault...

name another disorder where the person hearing about feels betrayed and has a sense of loss that the person they knew is going away....

gender matters in an instinctual way...thats what causes our distress but also confuses us...the lack of gender expression, and the lack of having our true gender reflected back at us causes that distress
...our changes causes distress in others...our gender issue is inconceivable to them...its more likely they'd beleive we got abducted by aliens...add to that the charged nature of anything that remotely touches sex....

also, the dsm is a negotiated politically charged document... that its a disorder is not settled "science" the OP makes an interesting observation... ...i get what you are saying...but its a broader point....

we have this "problem"...there is an obvious effective solution to our problem, but it requires alot of people to be involved, and those people all suffer ...its just the way it is....it makes our problem a very difficult problem...

[CharleneT]

Kaitlyn, NICELY stated !


:iagree:

[Badtranny]

its not "their" fault......

Yes perfect.

They just don't get it. Imagine your friend telling you that she can actually fly, but she's scared because she was raised to hide it because of what may happen to her if people found out. She feels dead inside because she remembers flying as a girl and she occasionally goes out and flies at night but she has to be very careful because she's terrified of being seen and discovered. She may never be able to fly freely again, and she's wondering if there's anything else to live for.

Would you be able to understand her? To really feel her pain? You have no idea what it's like to fly, you can't even imagine what must go on in her body to allow that, or what it feels like to NOT fly. She's otherwise beautiful and successful, so do you really understand why she wants to kill herself? The answer is no. You couldn't possibly understand her or empathize in any way. Flying is as foreign to you as your GID is to everyone else.

We need to be a lot more understanding to those that are trying to understand, and a lot less understanding to those who are working against us in the public square. (that includes many of our own)

[Jessica Keys]

Are you sure I didn't catch this from some tranny?

Now that is a good one Ellen.
I like it hon.

Badtranny,

Now that is a good way to "put it" so some outsider could understand it.

Good job.

[Diane Maple]

Yes perfect.


We need to be a lot more understanding to those that are trying to understand, and a lot less understanding to those who are working against us in the public square. (that includes many of our own)


YES, this is exactly what we need to do. No anger, if someone is trying to understand, just help them.

[Ashley D.]

Ugg,
This is something I think about a lot.
My mom has asked me time after time. Why can't this be something you do in privet or on the weekends?
I really wish I had a better response then. Umm I'm not a cross dresser :/.
I just what to do something to make transitioning easyer for others.

[celeste26]

GID is the only "disorder" that has no external and objective proof that it exists. There are no tests that can be performed in some laboratory that can establish it as a fact. The only way it can be diagnosed is by the feelings expressed by the patient

[Melissa Rose]

IMHO, it is probably difficult for others to view or understand GID as a medical disorder, but probably much easier to view it more like a psychological disorder. I think this is where a lot of the disconnect occurs.

Psychological disorders are usually treated by therapy, brain chemistry altering drugs or institutionalization and not by drastic physical means (e.g., hormones, surgery). Also, with a few exceptions, "voluntary" treatments do not directly impact others such as breaking up marriages, disrupting family dynamics and history, job loss, creating embarrassment, etc.. Treatment of GID is not viewed as required to cure a life altering or threatening physical illness or defect, or physical damage due to an accident or disease. In these types of cases, the negative physical symptoms are apparent and easy to understand the need or desire to fix them, thus easier to understand, accept and offer support.

As already mentioned in previous posts, it is difficult for others to understand or empathize with GID due to a lack of a reference point or real life analogies. I am going to use anorexia as a parallel example. Others look at the suffer and cannot understand why their body image is so out of sync with reality. It is very difficult to understand why someone would and could voluntarily starve themselves to death when the detrimental effects become so glaringly obvious especially when the cure is seemingly so intellectually simple (e.g., just eat a cheeseburger). The physical problem is malnutrition due to lack of eating, but the "cure" is not force feeding the person for life. It is to address and fix the emotional or mental issues driving the anorexia. When the psychological issues are successfully addressed, the physical issues also go away. Most people get this. I suspect for many, GID makes more sense to them as a psychological disorder and not a medical disorder. It is hard for them to understand hormones and major surgery (or variations of) as the only treatment, and not therapy or psychoactive drugs. Fix the psychological problem (GID) and the need for medical intervention goes away. Again, GID is not understood or accepted as a medical disorder, but more of a psychological one. Sigh.

[SuzanneBender]

There are days that I wish my GID came with some sort of outward manifestation. Maybe a cute birthmark on my bum or a Marilyn Monroe mole. But alas that is not the case and Tammy you have made a true but painful observation that is all to often the case. It hurts to realize those that you love and care for in your life cannot get past a real condition. However, I do agree with many here that its not all the fault of our loved ones. The actions that many of us have taken to hide and deny who we are causes them to feel betrayl and to hate this that which tears their ideal of the person they loved away from them. The best way to earn their love and forgiveness (for our transgressions, not because of who we are) is to forgive them and move forward in our lives.

[noeleena]

Hi,

There is one other disorder it in some ways are similar yet not quite the same in all details, it does include the Psychological Mental & Emotional as well as surgerys,

It is allso seen from birth for many & in others its not seen it is a life & death matter as well & for some if no surgery is done the baby ...will ... die, for others it can be a surgery matter, in regard to Hormones they can change i mean those with in the person, not some added one or synthic,

there are as far as known though not only this number some 10,000 people ,

Tammy , youll know who i m talking about, so im busted,

...noeleena...

[tiffanynjcd24]

i would say gender identity disorder at least

[Kaitlyn Michele]

Ugg,
This is something I think about a lot.
My mom has asked me time after time. Why can't this be something you do in privet or on the weekends?
I really wish I had a better response then. Umm I'm not a cross dresser :/.
I just what to do something to make transitioning easyer for others.

In the end, my mom saved my life...i have no doubt of this..

but at the beginning she said exactly this... she felt it was nobody's business...

i recall trying so hard to fit into the crossdresser lifestyle... at one point when my mom was hugging it out with me and telling me its ok...AND nobody needs to know...i blurted out the words that

"you dont get it!!!!
i felt like i was put on this earth to dress like a woman"....

at the time, i was still very much in denial about what i was going through...i had just started therapy and i had never really met or talked to a transsexual woman...it took me time to realize what i was saying....

Ashley it took me to transition for her to understand, and she understood it completely...she understood this is what kaitlyn needs to do, and i love Kaitlyn.....she didn't UNDERSTAND that until i actually did it..

+++++

Celeste
i get there isnt a way to stick in a pin in our heads and have it read GID, but I beleive there is external and objective proof...its in our transitions...especially the successful transitions where a person thrives in their gender role..

[stefan37]

Thriving in our new gender role. It is just so dam hard to get there and seems like it takes forever. Not that I regret starting and moving forward just saying. And losing my spouse has been the hardest and most painful to date. She is trying to understand and be supportive, and that is fine for me at whatever level she can reach.