Redditor asks r/FTMMen: “is it normal for dysphoria and mental health to get worse with time[?]” so i used to be in denial about being trans. during that time i was actually more functional, productive and "happy" than now. for context i'm now in a limbo where i can't go on t (for the first time) for 2 years, and have ran out of ways to ease dysphoria. should i be worried?
So many of these are textbook cases of the negative mental health consequences of obsessive thinking and rumination. Why do mental health professionals forget everything they learned about basic human psychology (and child and adolescent development) as soon as the words “gender identity” are introduced? The burden on them is to prove how gender is exempt from all we know about human psychology and neurocognitive development, and not on everyone to accept this unique exception without question or evidence
Is a "packer" something that a trans man puts in his pants to make it look like he has a bulge? Just asking.
The amount of self-hatred these women have is absolutely staggering. As a gay man, I often wished I had better muscle definition and that I was better hung, but I never "hated" myself. I always knew that I could go to the gym or buy weights (and I did). As for my penis size, well, that was God-given so I had to accept it. So I had a couple things wrong with me, but not EVERYTHING was wrong. But if at some point I decided that I was actually a woman, then I would have had another twenty reasons to see myself as imperfect.
The peach has decided that it is really an apple; but because it still looks like a peach, it now feels that it is wrong in every single way, instead of just a few ways.
It's impossible not to conclude that these women have internalized society's misogyny to the point where they would simply rather not be women any more. But what they don't understand is that trying to pass as a man is FAR more difficult than trying to be the perfect woman. As a woman, she might feel that she is a little too fat, or that her breasts aren't perky enough. Once she decides that she is a man, she may feel relieved to put such negative feelings about herself aside; but as time passes, what becomes apparent is that as imperfect as she was as a woman, she is VASTLY more imperfect as a man. So naturally, the dysphoria grows stronger.
The talk about wanting bottom surgery ("phallo") is breathtakingly ignorant to me. Whatever the surgeon manages to give them in the way of a penis will just be cosmetic. What do they imagine will happen? Eventually they'll realize that their penises are nothing more than sausage-shaped hunks of fat and skin that don't look or feel like the real thing, and which won't satisfy any person who wants the real thing.
Packers, phallo, removing breasts, getting skin sausages sewn onto your crotch -- it is all about appearances, isn't it? Where is the substance in these people?
"...negative rumination, fixating on gender, being indoctrinated into a whole bunch of new ways to feel ill at-ease with your body..."
It strikes me how similar gender dysphoria is to my experience of growing up in a typical female body. I was perfectly happy with my body through puberty and then I started to learn all the ways that it was judged imperfect (I went to fashion college). I heard people talk about plastic surgery "fixes" they had done and imagined what could be done with my body. I'm sure I wouldn't have thought about these if I didn't know there were surgical procedures available. I've spent the last 40 years living in a body that I find lots of faults with. It takes a lot of work to unlearn this thinking and to reconcile, appreciate and value reality.
I feel sympathy for these young women but I'm very concerned about their gender quest.
Omg, I want to tell all these people to get off the internet. Sometimes I think our phones and computers need warning labels on them. Your comment about experiencing everyone else's 3AM thoughts is right on and I honestly don't think we were built to be able to withstand a constant stream of 3AM thoughts and marketing. In many cases, I think THAT'S what's making us miserable and we just need to put down the phone for a few days and be in nature.
It's almost as if someone's belief that they were born into the 'wrong' body is a delusion causing severe distress, with a high potential for negative health outcomes. In the mental health literature we generally regard this type of belief as a psychosis. Believing that you are Jesus is quite common, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB3L8pbm2F8
Up top, her remark "constant empty feeling in my chest" jumped out at me.
This is exactly the way people who were developmentally traumatized (trauma 0-3) will describe themselves: painfully empty, broken, wrongly made, disgusting. Feeling utterly alien, foreign and different from others.
Gender Ideology took the symptoms of Developmental Trauma and rejiggered them towards 'Gender' by providing the sexed body as a "designated issue."
"...𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗶 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻, 𝗶 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝗲𝘂𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄, 𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿, 𝗶 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲." Did you win the lottery or meet your soulmate? Those are situations in which mentally well-adjusted people feel "euphoria". Otherwise, it's the upswing of bipolar disorder. You are being treated for the wrong illness.
"𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗺𝘆 𝗱𝘆𝘀𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝘁." That's because your self-defense instincts kicked in, and your subconscious self was trying to warn you that you were about to do something terrible to yourself. You should LISTEN to that voice. And STOP listening to rando mentally ill people online. People who are fucked up in the head are not in a position to HELP YOU.
The misuse of simple words for activism is so common people stop noticing it. When these women say "normal" what they actually mean is "common". Even if I suspend my disbelief for a minute and pretend that trans is real and cross-hormones is the right treatment, the increase in symptoms would be a side effect which is never normal, no matter how common. When they want to minimize something they replace a word with a softer one ("normal" instead of "common"). When they want to maximize they do the opposite ("unsafe" instead of "uncomfortable", "hate speech" instead of "disagreement").
It's shocking but not surprising that the mental health field encourages this trip down the rabbit hole, never admitting that Helena Kerschner, detransitioned woman, is right in saying testosterone is damaging to the female system. The destructive thought patterns revealed here in this post are so similar to women with anorexia; the obsessive-compulsive rumination, the constant seeking of outside affirmation and the acceptance that you'll feel sicker as you journey towards some imaginary magic plateau of rapture and euphoria. I highly recommend Jonathan Streeter's YouTube channel, Thoughts on Things and Stuff where he has a series of interviews with detransitioned woman, Michelle Alleva on the topic of the strong cult characteristics of the movement. On my YT channel, Ute Heggen, I offer healing movement to regain a sense of connection with the solar plexus and lower torso, the place where most PTSD manifests through the vagus nerve.
So, the treatment, according to anecdotal evidence from the patient, worsens the condition. Yet national health service providers (or insurers) continue to provide treatment (or funds for treatment)
So many of these are textbook cases of the negative mental health consequences of obsessive thinking and rumination. Why do mental health professionals forget everything they learned about basic human psychology (and child and adolescent development) as soon as the words “gender identity” are introduced? The burden on them is to prove how gender is exempt from all we know about human psychology and neurocognitive development, and not on everyone to accept this unique exception without question or evidence
Is a "packer" something that a trans man puts in his pants to make it look like he has a bulge? Just asking.
The amount of self-hatred these women have is absolutely staggering. As a gay man, I often wished I had better muscle definition and that I was better hung, but I never "hated" myself. I always knew that I could go to the gym or buy weights (and I did). As for my penis size, well, that was God-given so I had to accept it. So I had a couple things wrong with me, but not EVERYTHING was wrong. But if at some point I decided that I was actually a woman, then I would have had another twenty reasons to see myself as imperfect.
The peach has decided that it is really an apple; but because it still looks like a peach, it now feels that it is wrong in every single way, instead of just a few ways.
It's impossible not to conclude that these women have internalized society's misogyny to the point where they would simply rather not be women any more. But what they don't understand is that trying to pass as a man is FAR more difficult than trying to be the perfect woman. As a woman, she might feel that she is a little too fat, or that her breasts aren't perky enough. Once she decides that she is a man, she may feel relieved to put such negative feelings about herself aside; but as time passes, what becomes apparent is that as imperfect as she was as a woman, she is VASTLY more imperfect as a man. So naturally, the dysphoria grows stronger.
The talk about wanting bottom surgery ("phallo") is breathtakingly ignorant to me. Whatever the surgeon manages to give them in the way of a penis will just be cosmetic. What do they imagine will happen? Eventually they'll realize that their penises are nothing more than sausage-shaped hunks of fat and skin that don't look or feel like the real thing, and which won't satisfy any person who wants the real thing.
Packers, phallo, removing breasts, getting skin sausages sewn onto your crotch -- it is all about appearances, isn't it? Where is the substance in these people?
"...negative rumination, fixating on gender, being indoctrinated into a whole bunch of new ways to feel ill at-ease with your body..."
It strikes me how similar gender dysphoria is to my experience of growing up in a typical female body. I was perfectly happy with my body through puberty and then I started to learn all the ways that it was judged imperfect (I went to fashion college). I heard people talk about plastic surgery "fixes" they had done and imagined what could be done with my body. I'm sure I wouldn't have thought about these if I didn't know there were surgical procedures available. I've spent the last 40 years living in a body that I find lots of faults with. It takes a lot of work to unlearn this thinking and to reconcile, appreciate and value reality.
I feel sympathy for these young women but I'm very concerned about their gender quest.
Omg, I want to tell all these people to get off the internet. Sometimes I think our phones and computers need warning labels on them. Your comment about experiencing everyone else's 3AM thoughts is right on and I honestly don't think we were built to be able to withstand a constant stream of 3AM thoughts and marketing. In many cases, I think THAT'S what's making us miserable and we just need to put down the phone for a few days and be in nature.
It's almost as if someone's belief that they were born into the 'wrong' body is a delusion causing severe distress, with a high potential for negative health outcomes. In the mental health literature we generally regard this type of belief as a psychosis. Believing that you are Jesus is quite common, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB3L8pbm2F8
Up top, her remark "constant empty feeling in my chest" jumped out at me.
This is exactly the way people who were developmentally traumatized (trauma 0-3) will describe themselves: painfully empty, broken, wrongly made, disgusting. Feeling utterly alien, foreign and different from others.
Gender Ideology took the symptoms of Developmental Trauma and rejiggered them towards 'Gender' by providing the sexed body as a "designated issue."
"...𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗶 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻, 𝗶 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝗲𝘂𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄, 𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿, 𝗶 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲." Did you win the lottery or meet your soulmate? Those are situations in which mentally well-adjusted people feel "euphoria". Otherwise, it's the upswing of bipolar disorder. You are being treated for the wrong illness.
"𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗺𝘆 𝗱𝘆𝘀𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝘁." That's because your self-defense instincts kicked in, and your subconscious self was trying to warn you that you were about to do something terrible to yourself. You should LISTEN to that voice. And STOP listening to rando mentally ill people online. People who are fucked up in the head are not in a position to HELP YOU.
The misuse of simple words for activism is so common people stop noticing it. When these women say "normal" what they actually mean is "common". Even if I suspend my disbelief for a minute and pretend that trans is real and cross-hormones is the right treatment, the increase in symptoms would be a side effect which is never normal, no matter how common. When they want to minimize something they replace a word with a softer one ("normal" instead of "common"). When they want to maximize they do the opposite ("unsafe" instead of "uncomfortable", "hate speech" instead of "disagreement").
It's shocking but not surprising that the mental health field encourages this trip down the rabbit hole, never admitting that Helena Kerschner, detransitioned woman, is right in saying testosterone is damaging to the female system. The destructive thought patterns revealed here in this post are so similar to women with anorexia; the obsessive-compulsive rumination, the constant seeking of outside affirmation and the acceptance that you'll feel sicker as you journey towards some imaginary magic plateau of rapture and euphoria. I highly recommend Jonathan Streeter's YouTube channel, Thoughts on Things and Stuff where he has a series of interviews with detransitioned woman, Michelle Alleva on the topic of the strong cult characteristics of the movement. On my YT channel, Ute Heggen, I offer healing movement to regain a sense of connection with the solar plexus and lower torso, the place where most PTSD manifests through the vagus nerve.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnlaASFJkh0&t=3s
So, the treatment, according to anecdotal evidence from the patient, worsens the condition. Yet national health service providers (or insurers) continue to provide treatment (or funds for treatment)
Of course GD gets worse when you're encouraging it and feeding it!
Have there always been so many people who can't sort out cause from effect?
There isn't a strong enough word for how reading this made me feel.