Vent about transmedicalism

Well, yes. But for the forseeable future nothing is going to change. Raging against it is as useless as shouting at the wind (which I have been known to do, for what it's worth...)

To be honest, you're a slam dunk no-questions asked case of gender dysphoria. No doctor in the UK is going to say otherwise.

Beth x

 

i don't think you are or were "stupid." i think you are culturally conditioned to conclude that by a medical/social standard and definition of who and how you are. In the US, prior to 1973, homosexuality was on the APA list of psychological disorders. ;Medicine' used to bleed people to get rid of disease. Thankfully, some things evolve and change, often too slowly to benefit those living in the here and now.
In the end, i think what will be clarified as "stupid," is trying to treat people in categories instead of as individuals with possible traits in common.

 

Originally that whole process was put in place to help us transition. There were (and are still) doctors and therapists that are apalled by our mere existence- that process existing was supposed to help us in the times of much opposition. The problem is people also abuse that system to keep those who could really use it from getting what they need- a long winded way of saying gatekeeping.

 

I fully relate. I spent years trying to figure out what was going on with me, wishing I was "the right type of trans person" in order to be able to transition (newsflash: if you'd rather live life as a different gender, you're trans). I feel your pain. And it sounds frustrating having to rely on a broken health system. I hope you can access HRT as soon as possible.

 

Sure, yeah, i think that reparative therapy would qualify as "medicalizing" homosexuality. i've been through it when i was religious of a sort that thought "God" didn't like same sex sex and trying to un-gay myself. They 'cast demons' out as part of the, er, 'therapy.' It seems there have always been charlatans selling snake oil. It took me awhile to process out of that, but they no longer affect me. The good news is, while there are people who bring damaging notions into their medical practices, there are also genuinely caring and careful people.

 

No, not an ounce of sarcasm on my part, i have a long history and am very personally familiar with reparative therapy.

 

I wish I was trans ever since I heard what being transgender means. I had always envied trans men(I’m ftm) when I was younger because they have all those gender affirming care to ‘magically turn them into boys/men’. But I did not considered myself trans as I did not struggle as much as others. And trans people’s experiences were mostly portrayed as something negative(like, how they always know since childhood, self-harm and suicide, etc.). I tried to convince myself that I wanted hormones due to misogyny and it’s stupid to have such eerie thoughts. However later I realized I’m just not a girl. Now I feel depressed, not only because I am seen as a girl, but also my inability to have access to hormones as I don’t have crippling dysphoria. Thinking about being and looking like a woman for the rest of my life makes me desperate. I will never never get hormones, I will never be a man. That’s my experience, I just want to tell you, you are not alone.

 

Okay, first of all - disclaimer
1. I'm quite direct, what I say might comes across as rude, it's not meant this way and I'm at a loss how to frame it better.
2. If I'm being lengthy, and I already see this post is very long, that doesn't mean I'm angry or mean to attack (I have stumbled upon this interpretation online, maybe it's hard to tell without seeing someone that they're not angry?)

When you put two things next to each other, that might come across as a comparison. Not sure if that is the problem you have come across, but I used to not know that at some point in the past. Composition of what you say affects how it's perceived. It might be hard sometimes if you are detail-oriented or easily get derailed and forget what you were saying a few sentences ago (I often do).

Say:

I like cookies. I dislike tea.

I like cookies, they're tasty.

The first sentence automatically puts cookies and tea in comparison, a common framework. What are the similarities? What are the differences?

The second one is statement + explanation / description.

I'm not saying you were wrong for saying what you said, miscommunication happens all the time and it's normal, it just looks to me like you didn't understand that, so I explained.

Nobody's identity is transphobic, as long as it affects only them.

And this is the experience of many people in the transgender community. It's a phenomenon that a lot of trans people have in common.

Now, what is transmedicalism? According to Wikipedia:
"Transmedicalism is the idea that being transgender is primarily a medical issue related to the incongruence between an individual's assigned sex at birth and their gender identity, characterized by gender dysphoria."
So it is inappropriate application of a diagnostic tool meant for physicians by laypeople or transphobia on the part of a medical professional. Lack of respect for individuals and their experience, self-perception, individuality. It's a kind of bias.

Transmedicalism is not experiencing gender dysphoria, and it's not wishing you were not transgender. Those are also individual experiences.

It would be a problem/transmedicalism/bias if someone generalises their experience to everyone and invaildates others based on having a different experience.

Perhaps there were communication problems, and this is where this came from?

I would disagree with that as well. I come from a multigenerational family of doctors, even though I'm not a doctor myself, so I probably can speak on their behalf. The diagnosis is the way it is, the diagnostic criteria are written by physicians and for physicians. From a doctor's standpoint, they are useful guidelines to help determine if the patient will benefit from e.g. HRT. Logically, there are cases when the risks of HRT outweigh the benefits, this is why there is mention of persistent discomfort that is significant for the quality of life. In general, doctors are wary of hormonal treatment, especially invasive like HRT that shuts down the gonads completely, otherwise it's ineffective. The impact on fertility is that you might not get it back. Ever again. Once broken, the feedback loop between the pituitary gland and ovaries or testes, is often impossible to restore. Not speaking of surgeries... The criteria are strict, because it's all very risky, objectively speaking, and for anyone who has knowledge that can potentially cause very much harm to others, but can also literally save lives, it's their responsibility to make sure they "do no harm". Also, the gender dysphoria diagnosis was meant to not be strict at all, what it really means to suffer in a way that affects you and persistently, is largely subjective, and probably anyone with a consistent motivation to transition can fit these criteria, this is how they were meant to be used.

However, those are guidelines for access to HRT, it is outside physician's responsibilities and it would be an overstepping to tell someone who they are and how they should feel. They were never about who you are, it wasn't ever the purpose of these guidelines and they should not be used this way. Period.

On the other hand, I have similar experiences myself and it has caused me a lot of problems to not get the peer support, all while facing transphobia from classmates and family that couldn't just deal with it. I don't pursue HRT, I pass without hormones, but the lack of support even in spaces that were supposed to be supportive has caused me a lot of harm.

Also, it looks like serious dysphoria if you are being suiscidal because you can't be yourself. Just saying.

That's why antidepressants are so widely prescribed, including trans people with gender dysphoria. Antidepressants can take the edge off dysphoric mood. Antidepressants also are considered safe medication, without serious side effects, unlike surgeries, that are generally avoided and unlike invasive HRT. Not only for trans people. In general.

It is unfortunately true for some people, hence the psychological diagnosis. However, treating everyone as if they couldn't make decisions and judge for themselves does a lot of harm, both in the psychotherapeutic context and in peer support groups such as this website.

 

P. S. No correctly functioning gonads affect not only reproduction, but the whole body in terms of bone density, heart disease, dementia and so on. Permament sterilisation is also illegal in many countries even if the patient might want it in the given moment, but in a more general sense, it is advised in medicine definitely against permament removal of anything that is still at least a bit functional, as it creates the need for permament medication and/or prosthetics, which are less functional than even a badly functioning "original" organ. Even a bit of functioning of the organ might make the management a whole lot easier. E.g. if a woman after menopause doesn't have her ovaries removed in the course of hysterectomy, it makes the HRT doses significantly smaller and less needed.