CD and TS are both on the TG spectrum, and are both under the TG umbrella. Both CD and TS, in my opinion and in that of my therapist, have gender dysphoria, but to different degrees.
Most CDers have milder or less progressed GD that has a desire to express a feminine side from time to time, which may be once a month, once every two weeks, once a week, or even several times a week, or may include daily underdressing, but no desire to transition - they are happy being men, they don't hate their penis or beard, like having sex with their lives, and enjoy the aspects of manhood. How often you need to dress as a woman varies and will generally increase over the years, but in most cases will not lead to transition. Because even with a strong desire to dress, there is a strong desire to be a man too.
TSes have much more severe and progressed GD to the point that they are completely miserable unless they transition. TSes often feel severe pain and the GD often interferes severely in their lives, and often but not always want to commit suicide because the GD is so bad. A TS can and often thinks they are a CD before realizing they are TS. Some TSes never wore an article of women's clothes until transition. TSes may have been really good at being men prior to transition, or may have had a really difficult time trying to be men, or anywhere in between.
The cruel truth is, and this is the scary part, is neither you nor your significant other will know until after the fact that if you are TS or CD. If you never transition that you are probably not TS. But you might think you are a CD and than years later transition and realize you are TS. There is no way to know, and unfortunately it is a crapshoot for all practical purposes as to whether or not you as a CDer will ever transition.
Now here's the good news. There's a 98% chance you, as a CDer, will never transition. There's a 50% chance you will get divorced for reasons not related to being a CDer or TS. You have a far better chance of getting divorced than transitioning. In fact, there is a better chance you will get snow in your coastal California home town sometime in your lifetime than you transitioning. For those who live in places that get snow, there is a better chance of getting snow in June (December if you live in the southern hemisphere) at some point in your lifetime than transitioning.
Let me rephrase this. You are 25 times more likely to get a divorce than transition. You are twice as likely to see snow fall at some point in your life in coastal California than transition. You are twice as likely to see snow fall at some point in your life during the months of May, June, July, August, or September, than transition.
There are no guarantees in life. However, the odds that you as a CDer will never transition are pretty damn good.
