[Samantha Rogers]

Hi Denita,

First, honey, I am just so happy at the reaction you have gotten from your brother. That is so awesome. I can only imagine how great that must have felt.
I am confused though about your dealings with the psychiatrist. Maybe I missed something in the thread...I am pretty dingy, lol...but my take on mental health professionals is to just be as up front and out in the open as I can so that they are better able to access and assist. So I am confused. Why not just tell your cute shrink right at the outset that you are TG? Seems like the elephant in the room...lol

Hi Samantha,

Thank you. He is awesome and it was a massive sense of relief. My brother is the only acceptance that I needed or wanted.

I think the elephant is in a pink sequin jumpsuit and is doing somersaults. Just not to be missed. lol
I totally agree with you and I will bring the subject up when I see her this week.

My main reason for putting myself forward was to sort out my depression, anxiety, rebuild my confidence and hopefully sort out my social isolation. This is the weird thing about it. I have not deliberately hidden that I'm TG but at the same time I've not offered the information.

It might work out to my advantage as she might be able to directly refer me for a gender dysphoria diagnosis through my GP. Saves me from trying to convince my GP to do it.



Denita

Oh, I can only imagine how wonderful that must have been with your brother! I am so happy for you. We have to make the most of those moments since they must carry us through darker ones. I try to store joy like that...lol

I can understand about things just "not coming up". I know when one first visits with a therapist after a long period of trying to cope alone there are so very many things to say by way of introduction that the gates just fling open and the tide gushes forth. But I also know there were things in my mind which still made me feel ashamed and which I was hesitant to reveal for fear of judgement from the therapist. It took me awhile to realize that I needed to trust her as I trust only myself if I wanted to really get any help. Now I know better, and there is nothing I am afraid to share with her. I realized the things I was afraid to voice were things I did not even want to admit to myself. I just wanted to be sure you were not falling into the same thing, and I see now that wasnt the case. Good for you, girlfriend! I think you are right, and letting her know about the TG issues can only help with your referrals and with moving toward settling all of your issues. One huge area for all of us is learning to seperate the various issues we face from the TG issue. Many of us deal with other concerns that can, before learning to distinguish differences, comingle with the TG elephant and make it so hard to make sense of the whole tangled affair within. Self esteem, codependency, sexuality, and a wide array of other complications can so often muddy the waters and make truly understanding our GID a daunting and intimidating task. It is small wonder depression is so often the result.
But only when we do isolate the other stuff can we really approach the elephant secure in knowing we do so honestly and armed with truth.
I know this will work out well for you my friend.
Hugs
Sammie