Stress and crossdressing

[susandrea]

I know this has been discussed before, but I am looking for specific answers to these questions. These questions really apply to CDs who keep it a secret.

How much/often would you say STRESS is a trigger that sets off the urge to crossdress for you personally?

If you are under an unusually great amount of stress, do you feel like you might take greater risks to crossdress than you would normally?

Thanks in advance for your imput.

[EricaCD]

I have given this a fair amount of thought, and I simply cannot correlate stress with a desire to crossdress. That said, it's probably fair to say that my general life is enormously stressful by most standards. Maybe I just have a perpetual desire to dress, and am not aware that if I chilled out more I'd feel differently :)

At the same time, for me dressing is quite stressful. No, that's not right. Finding opportunities to dress, and ensuring that I have all my stuff with me, and that I am not going to be rushed....that's stressful. Dressing itself is still quite relaxing :)

[susandrea]

Erica, do you think you dress specifically to get to that "relaxed state" as the MAIN reason, to relieve stress in your life?

(Thanks for answering):thumbsup:

[Vera Lynn]

Great question

For me I have always figured stres plays a major part in my need to dress up

I run a construction company and I am the person in the hot seat all day long...every day. I constantly have to make the "important call"

I think I am able to unwind when slipping in to something nice. It helps me to deprogram I suppose

I really do feel better during and after dress upsessions.
Lately, I am doing it more since I have moved out of my house (In the beginning of what is turning out to be a very nasty divorce...see my introduction thread)

It helps me get through my days to fel the silky panties or stockings and garter belts under my "man clothes"


I know I will always need to have this stress reliever, and I am thankful to recognize I have that ability

[EricaCD]

Hi Susandrea: In a word, no. If I am just looking for a short term stress reliever, I have plenty of other activities and hobbies that I would look to before crossdressing. CDing is wonderful fun, and the act of dressing (and especially the makeup) is quite relaxing - but not so much so that I seek it out as a means to escape stress.

(I'd be a bit of a shmuck if I did, because the logistical arrangements to get myself, my clothes and some free time together in the same place can be pretty vexing...)

Feel free to PM if I didn't answer sufficiently for you!

Best,
Erica

PS: Vera Lynn, I *do* remember...remember how you said that "we would meet again, some sunny day."

[Vera Lynn]

Erica!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D :D :D

THANKS for being the first to notice!!!

[Karren H]

Stress is all relative....and some handle it better than most. Otherwise every Air Trafic controller would crossdress!! lol But i feel that crossdresing is a great stress relief. Not that being a coal miner is stressful or playing ice hockey. hehehe

Love Karren

[rocval2001]

My therapist and I have talked about this quite a bit for me, she feels that my need to cross dress is stress related. I have taken all the gender brain test and it shows female brain. Regardless the test after talking to me its stress. In fairness the only test that as changed was the cologi - from #4 possible transexual to #3 nither male or female. There are times that I really want to be a women, then there are times I am ok being a male. I have been real busy at work and have not had time to enjoy the summer nor spend time with the family. I feeling to dress have been hight lately. So making a short answer long, for me it is stress related. Question though what about all those nights as a young teen praying to wake up a female ?

[Dee 1062]

Crossdressing for me does make me feel better when I am stressed out and yes I do like going out when I am feeling real stress...so I guess you said it all . but I do dress because I am HOTTTTT !:)

[Carlacd]

If i am stressed it does tend to help me feel more calm. Mostly at night time, other wise as it was pointed out, there are other hobbies which also help. Then again, i try and dress wether i am stressed or not.

[MarinaTwelve200]

I only know CD releives stress because i feel so much more relaxed when I do it and afterwards.

I really dont conciously feel stressed before I Cd----but I feel an URGE to do so---the feeling of "releif" I get afterwards tells me I WAS "stressed".


Apparently I am an "escapist" CD who needs to get away from my self (and maleness) for a while, if only a few hours. Being an escapist I dont have a "fem side" to express or to go to. Getting away from my male self rather than going to a 'fem self" seems to be the point of my CDing---and THAT is what releives the stress.

[connie rotten]

My SO had had a setback in a health matter that put all the burdon of financial obligations on me. It also caused her to be moody and depressed for a couple of years. I found myself going from a weekly crossdresser to dressing every opertunity I had. I think stress can be an increasing cause of crossdressing.

[rosiegurl]

stress does seem to make me wanna dress more, weirdly though, serious stress makes me wanna purge

[ColleenCD]

Sometimes the urges to dress can be so strong that I feel a sense if desperation to be fem. The stress levels relating to the urges tend to be triggered more from over-worked, over-comitted, those sort of things. Maybe it is a little bit of escapism?

Colleen

[gwenrob43]

Love the new hairpiece Karren!
I don't have a lot of stress anymore. Just figuring out whose names I'm going to put in the hat this month and see which ones I draw out to get paid is all. There's always more bills than cash.
Yes, crossdressing is a stress reliever.

Gwen

[susandrea]

Interesting answers, everyone. Thanks.

Has anyone felt that a big increase in stress (say a serious crisis) might cause them to take chances with dressing that they normally wouldn't consider? Like doing it when there is a greater chance of being caught, because relief may be more important than secrecy?

[gildasuffolk]

Hi all

I think,for me anyway, is wondering when my wife will be away from the house which is stressfull, in other words finding the time to dress and having fun.
Luckily for me, this week my wife went away for a few days and I can feel that my stress levels where down, but I am starting to get stressed agin because I know she is on her way back today.

Luv
Gilda:mad:

[barbra1958]

why worry about getting seen by any one.this hole world is all messed up any way.why not do what makes you happy and what is inside of you.be all you can be dressup and be happy.for me its the best thing to do.it helps to take away all the days worrys and headacks.i dont worry about it.i go out side and walk around in the day time all dressed up and its a great feeling just to see the world in a diffrent way.be happy if you crossdress and live one day at a time.love yourself for you are a beautifull person.

[Jasmine Ellis]

I'm stress free

[Kimberly]

I know this has been discussed before, but I am looking for specific answers to these questions. These questions really apply to CDs who keep it a secret.

How much/often would you say STRESS is a trigger that sets off the urge to crossdress for you personally?

If you are under an unusually great amount of stress, do you feel like you might take greater risks to crossdress than you would normally?

Thanks in advance for your imput.
I would say, when I'm stressed I am subconciously more inclined to relax through dressing... it's like "coming home" for me. I can unwind and not worry about things too much.

Saying that, my development of crossdressing has come to the point where I think about genderbending most of the day, every day -- not obsessively, but I'll see some clothes on a GG and think, 'I want them!' or 'And we can't wear them because we're men, well that's a flawed rule!'

xx

[MarinaTwelve200]

I would say, when I'm stressed I am subconciously more inclined to relax through dressing... it's like "coming home" for me. I can unwind and not worry about things too much.

xx


I find this aspect of CD very fascinating. While for You and many others , CDing is like "coming home", but for me and us "escapist" types Cding is like "getting AWAY" from the "home"---but STILL for the same reasons to "unwind" and relax.

This is a great example how CD is used for the same ultimate purpose but approached from entirely oppisite "angles". This suggests TWO main types of CD people(not counting the fetishists and thrill seekers) forming the bulk of the CD community. "Femsiders" vs "escapists", and it is a kind of sideline of my "research" here to identify and compaire the two different types to see if each group has other characteristics in common that may account for the different approaches to CDing. Taking opposite approaches to the same end.

[Lisa Golightly]

I know you wanted answers from secret dressers, but as an ex-secret dresser I thought I'd just say what I realised when I stopped being a secret dresser. My stress was caused by my inability to be me all the time. I'd be this faux bloke for as long as I could and then... WHAM... there'd come Lisa.

I was such a bitch to him really... lol... :)

[Dana]

of my life it most definately kicked up the "need" several notches.

Now, in a period of the least stressful times in my life ~ the need still manifests itself.

[Ranee Daze]

As a prelude to my answer, I do go out as Ranee, not all that often, but my true identity is a secret to all. There is also a strong sexual elemnt to my dressing.
Yes, oh yes, I dress for stress. The nerves' are a mess 'till I don a dress.

[Diane Paris]

How much/often would you say STRESS is a trigger that sets off the urge to crossdress for you personally?

If you are under an unusually great amount of stress, do you feel like you might take greater risks to crossdress than you would normally?

Thanks in advance for your imput.

REPLY to Q1: Sometimes its the stress that triggers the need to cross dress, but there have been many times that the stress was mostly attributed to not being able to dress.

Reply to Q2: Oh yes, once the compulsion sets in, I find myself getting more and more frustrated and more willing to take changes to meet the enormous need to dress up.

[Amy H.]

Stress will cause me to be much bolder when I dress. Right now I am under a terrific amount of stress at work and I have done some things recently dressed that I have never done before. For instance, one evening last week I went grocery shopping in a large supermarket wearing a very short denim mini skirt, nude hose, heels, a clingy body shirt with breast forms underneath that have erect nipples, a long blonde wig, and full makeup with lipstick. The only real comment I got was from a guy who walked past me in an aisle and said "You've got a lot of guts." No real reaction from anyone else and the supermarket was somewhat crowded. Have been wearing hot pants, nude hose and a body shirt out on routine chores like going to the laundromat. Again, no real reaction either except from a woman who followed me out of the laundromat a few days ago and said "I just want to tell you that you have beautiful legs (and I really do!).

When I am not stressed I will dress infrequently... but over the last couple of months about the only time I've worn strictly male attire is while I've been at work.

[Olivia]

Since coming out to my grown children and my mom, I stay dressed a lot at home. Meds have helped I'm sure, but my blood pressure has dropped quite a bit. I think I'm less stressed and therefore lower bp. O

hey wait a minute; that sounds as though I live with my mom!?!? OMG no! LOL. But she does come by to visit at times...

[vbcdgrl]

In my case, stress does not create a need to CD. CDing is, however, relaxing, and gives me pleasure, like a hobby. I escape the "real" world for a while, and do something I like to do, rather than have to do. That can relieve stress for a while, I guess.
On the other hand, I can understand how being a CD could create stress, especially if you have involved those close to you or your trying to hide it from them.

Vikki

[Scotty]

Exact opposite for me, I do NOT wear anything femme if I'm totally stressed.....dunno why but I don't....