Gender dysphoria and other conditions?

[Sares]

Hi folks,

I've been trying to find an answer to this question on the Internet, but have had no luck, and thought that perhaps one of you super-knowledgeable people would be able to answer it: Is gender dysphoria ever a symptom of another biological or psychological condition? I know that some (though certainly not all) intersex people experience gender dysphoria as a result of their existing conditions, to varying degrees. But what I was wondering is if cross-gender feelings can result from things like depression (chronic or seasonal) or simple hormonal imbalances...or if they can be triggered in some people by major life changes (a new job, a move, loss of a job, loss of a friend or family member, etc.) and then become significantly lessened when the stress is removed or the situation is resolved.

I was reading something about gender counseling, and it mentioned that counselors and psychiatrists who specialize in gender issues are there to address issues of gender dysphoria, including those which result from GID or transsexualism. When I read that, I wondered: what else, besides an intersex condition, could lead to gender dysphoria? (The ideas that I threw out in the last paragraph are my own speculations.)

I have two reasons for wanting to know: first, because I simply want to satisfy my own curiosity, and second, because I'm beginning to wonder if there might be a possible link between my own cross-gender thoughts and feelings and my Seasonal Affective Disorder. I become preoccupied and even upset during the winter and summer with thoughts and ideas that never even cross my mind during the fall and spring, which include, but are not limited to, an intensified mental rebellion against feminine clothing, and recurrent thoughts about what my life would have been like with XY chromosomes and a natural supply of testosterone.

Thanks for any answers/insight/directions to resources. :smilep:

- Sean

[Cai]

The wikipedia article on transsexualism talks a little bit about GID being caused occasionally with schizophrenia, DID/MPD, and Münchhausen's Syndrome.

Other than that, it seems like most discussions of mental disorders co-morbid with GID/gender dysphoria are about the diseases being caused by the GID, instead of causing it.

That probably doesn't help, but it's the best I could find. Check out SpringerLink (http://www.springerlink.com/) if you want to try a more in-depth look at psych journal articles.

[Nicki B]

IME GD can certainly lead to depression and mental health problems - not the other way round?

[Kieron Andrew]

IME GD can certainly lead to depression and mental health problems - not the other way round?

:iagree:

[CaptLex]

I'm beginning to wonder if there might be a possible link between my own cross-gender thoughts and feelings and my Seasonal Affective Disorder.
I don't know the answer to your question, Sean, but I think it makes sense that if someone is already down due to seasonal depression (I get it too, btw), then things that could trigger gender dysphoria are bound to do so more often than when someone is not depressed. :thinking:

[Sares]

Thanks, Cai! I will check that out. Funny that I didn't even look at Wikipedia...I guess my professors have succeeded in driving it from my mind. :rolleyesp:

Nicki and Kieron: I definitely know that GID usually causes depression, not the other way around, but because my depression is caused by issues with sunlight and/or temperature and/or cabin fever, I figured that it might be more likely (at least in my case) for the depression to be triggering the gender dysphoria. But perhaps Lex is right, and it's not triggering it so much as worsening it.

I have both mild winter depression and the more severe (for me, at least), and far rarer, summer depression. During the summer my symptoms are 90% physical, and I just feel terrible -- weak, listless, barely able to eat anything. Gender dysphoria in the summertime is mostly centered around things I've never liked about my body, because my skinny arms and legs are constantly exposed by T-shirts and shorts, and I can't not wear those things without melting. It's not as intense in the summer because I'm always so preoccupied with just trying to feel better, but it does emerge. In winter -- especially THIS winter -- I get far more emotional symptoms than physical. My appetite returns, I feel much healthier, and I actually really enjoy the cold weather and snow, but I get down in the dumps very easily and I start dwelling on things. This is when gender dysphoria kicks in. It's the difference between thinking about it every once in a while, coolly and rationally, and being preoccupied with it.

In fall and spring, I'm cool and rational, and emotionally and physical healthy. And usually happy to be a grown-up, skirt-hating tomboy of the "It's a messenger bag, not a PURSE, thank you" variety.

It's a weird pattern, and of course, being as preoccupied as I currently am, I've come to realize that it exists through...dwelling on it!

I think I should start writing this stuff down...either this will ease up as the seasons change and I'll go back to being cool and rational about my clothing choices and thought processes, or someone qualified to make sense of SAD and GID will eventually make sense of it for me. At the very least, it would probably help me to be less preoccupied if I could get things down on paper and out of my head...

[stacie]

Gender Dysphoria means you are born with a brain off the oppsite gender. Its not about the clothing, Its about your body and not agreeing with how it looks. The sad part is if you are GD you are considered to have a form of mental illnes and this is not true at all. Harry Benjamin did a great amount of study on transgender people during his life. Just type up Harry Benjamin Syndrome and you will find out a lot of the answers you are looking for.
Its normal to feel sad at times if you can't get the time to dress, But if you getting depressed because you don't like the way your body looks and you start to get sucidal then you need to find a therapist who works with people who have gender dysphoria.
I could not spend another minute living as a male with out thoughts of wishing I was dead or never born, So I am now on hrt and live as a female and I finally feel happy for the first time in my life. Just remember you are born this way and nothing triggers this to happen.

[Kieron Andrew]

Gender Dysphoria means you are born with a female brain.

OR male?! :straightface:

[stacie]

Sorry Kieron, I made a correction on my post about being born with the brain of the opposite gender...Hugs

[Kieron Andrew]

Sorry Kieron, I made a correction on my post about being born with the brain of the opposite gender...Hugs

:heehee:its ok :tongueout

[Nicki B]

Nicki and Kieron: I definitely know that GID usually causes depression, not the other way around, but because my depression is caused by issues with sunlight and/or temperature and/or cabin fever, I figured that it might be more likely (at least in my case) for the depression to be triggering the gender dysphoria. But perhaps Lex is right, and it's not triggering it so much as worsening it.

I'm sure depression makes you focus on the dysphoria - and like any pain, the more you think about it, the tolerance threshold decreases (that's a medical fact).

But I think the concept that your SAD triggers the dysphoria is potentially a dangerous one - that would imply GD can be turned on and off and an awful lot of people have tried to find that Holy Grail... Kieron & I both know a girl who was sectioned (detained as mentally ill) and given ECT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroconvulsive_therapy) to try and 'cure' her of her trans thoughts, less than two decades ago?

[CaptLex]

Gender Dysphoria means you are born with a brain off the oppsite gender. Its not about the clothing, Its about your body and not agreeing with how it looks.
Maybe Sean (Sares) can clear this up, but the way I took his original post, I thought he was talking specifically about GD days, not Gender Identity Disorder in general. In other words, those "bad" days we all sometimes get when we feel down, out of it . . . just downright dysphoric due to our gender issues, as opposed to "better" days when we feel we can deal with it. :raisedeyebrow:

[Nicki B]

Gender Dysphoria means you are born with a brain off the oppsite gender. Its not about the clothing, Its about your body and not agreeing with how it looks.

IME there are three 'axes' of gender dysphoria and we all differ in the amounts we have of each..
1. Discomfort with what we see in the mirror - which can often be wrapped up with the clothes
2. Body dysmorphia - dislike of what we see as the wrong 'parts'
3. A need to be perceived and socialise as the opposite sex

This is not my original idea, I first heard it propounded on MHB.com - but from where I stand, it 'fits'?

Those who have a strong dysphoria on each axis tend to be the ones who transition?

[CaptLex]

Those who have a strong dysphoria on each axis tend to be the ones who transition?
Yup, I got three out of three. :thumbsup:


1. Discomfort with what we see in the mirror - which can often be wrapped up with the clothes
2. Body dysmorphia - dislike of what we see as the wrong 'parts'
3. A need to be perceived and socialise as the opposite sex

To further explain my last post a bit. I know my GD days are brought on more acutely by #3 above more than the other two, but they all contribute.

1. I can take seeing myself in the mirror most days because I can usually see beyond my reflection.

2. Sometimes I can deal with having the wrong parts better than other days, but for the most part I usually manage to avoid looking at myself and that helps.

3. This one is beyond my control - some days people look at me and see "me", a boy, and some days it's like Beat Up On Lex day. Each little "ma'am", "miss", "she", "her", etc. is a little jab and altogether they add up to one big ass-kicking. That's what usually triggers my dysphoria - too many of these at one time. And it's a mystery to me why it happens some days and not others, but being already down (due to seasonal depression or something else) doesn't help. :doh:

[Cai]

I wonder if the first two are related, Nicki. I know that my gender dysphoria, my body dysmorphia, and my disordered eating are closely tied to each other: the more dysphoric I'm feeling, the more I dislike my body, and the less I eat.

Related to what Sean is saying - sometimes the dysphoria and the dysmorphia work in two directions. Feeling more girly makes me dislike my body more, but having a "fat day" makes me more sensitive to gender-related comments.

I suppose you could say on those days that my dysmorphia causes the GD, but since the ultimate cause of the body dysmorphia and the eating disorder is the GD...it's all a big circle.

[Nicki B]

I wonder if the first two are related, Nicki.

I'm sure they are, Cai, but I do also think there is a difference - one is about the self-image we perceive (and links to the one we project to others, too), the other is about specific parts of the body (even if, for body hair, that can be most of it)? :rolleyes: That's why they can all be described together as 'Gender Dysphoria'?


Sean, have we hijacked your thread, or do you find this interesting? Please tell us if you'd rather it went in a different direction? :straightface:

[Alex R]

Hi folks,

....Is gender dysphoria ever a symptom of another biological or psychological condition? .....
Thanks for any answers/insight/directions to resources. :smilep:

- Sean

I do think it's a worthwhile question that a person who is starting to identify their own gender dysphoria should ask themselves. I know I did. I needed to challenge the strong feelings that were coming to the fore just to to make sure of their veracity.

However, in saying that, I tend to agree with the earlier contributors who propose that GID can cause depression etc. rather than the other way round. Maybe if a person is depressed due to another reason it may exacerbate their GID but I suggest it has to be there in the first place. However, such circumstances are not true cause and effect.

So, in answer to your question: no, I don't think so.