Anyone I'm trusting with my health, physical or mental, I bring it up if it ever becomes even slightly relevant. My eye doctor? No. My thuerapist? Absolutely.
I don't have a therapist or psychiatrist but am out to my medical doctor. It seems relevant to me and I can hardly even imagine a situation where it wouldn't be relevant for a therapist.
In middle school I outed myself (sexuality) to my counsellor but she didn't receive it well (she tried to be accepting but basically just struggled with understanding it and being comfortable with it. I had better experiences later on as an adult with a psychiatrist after I moved to Canada; I talked about both my sexuality and gender to him and he respected both and immediately used the right pronouns and name. I think it depends on where you live and the general societal context as to whether counsellors/psychiatrists would be more accepting or not.
I don't have a psychiatrist, though I probably should. Anyways, I would have no problem telling them.
I was out to the therapist I was going to, now I stopped going because some reasons and I'm waiting for an appointing with a psychologist, I'm going to tell him/her who I am. I'm not out to my psychiatrist.
After seeing mine for several months, mainly because I wanted help with one problem before working on the being Bisexual in a state that pretty much hates the LGBT crowd, I told her I was bi.
No, and I regret not telling her. She's a wonderful person and I know she'll be accepting if I ever decide to, but for now I'll be in the closet
The whole reason I started seeing my therapist was because I started questioning if I was gay. I thought I was bi when I first started realizing I was and always had been attracted to women. I thought I was bi because I had been happily married to a man for so many years. He had told me it was ok for me to pursue a relationship with a woman I had become close to. That experience opened up my eyes to feelings I had in the past but could never put a name to. This past year I started really looking at those feelings and became very depressed. I knew that if my what my gut was telling me was true than I would most likely lose my husband and my gf as partners. This is essentially what is happening. It’s been very overwhelming...the guilt and feelings of selfishness have been huge. I have felt like everything that is happening is because of me and I never really seemed myself as someone who deserves that much consideration. Getting a therapist who understands and knows has saved my life multiple times this past year. It’s really important your therapist knows, because the feelings that crop up with coming out to yourself alone are intense, much less to others. If you feel you need a therapist in the first place your sexuality is something they need to know, because the feelings are big and hard to understand. It can be a dangerous place if you try and go it alone.
That's really rough, Geek. I know how hard it is to even make one appointment. You did good though! You have to trust your gut on these things. Finding the right therapist who you connect with is part of the process, so you'll have trial and error. That's okay. You can find the therapist right for you. What are your plans next?
If you need help finding one I’m pretty good at navigating the different therapist search platforms out there. I’ve had to find therapists with specific field of speciality. For both my kids and me. Word of mouth helps too, if you know anyone who might have insight.
No. I wish I had people that I could be out to. I've come out a few times though. So I can still do it.
I recently moved and had to leave a therapist. At one point early on she asked 'do you have a girlfriend? [longish pause] or a boyfriend?' and I just told her I wasn't interested in dating (which wasn't a lie). I then went on to try and explain but I just stuttered a lot and left it and it never came up again. Once I start therapy again I will probably tell them if it comes up.