Hey! I feel I trust my therapist enough to come out to her as bisexual. The idea of being bisexual I've struggled with along time. Even though my parents wean't homophobic(My dad cousin is gay and super accepting) I always grew up with the idea of only gay and straight people. Because of that I feel guilty that I can't fit into the binary. While I accept that I am who I am, I still struggle with the idea of being who I am in the sense I feel still kinda horrible for not being straight. I have a mental illness and I worry that people are going to discriminate me more because of that or people are going to blame my sexuality on my mental health illness. I feel coming out to her will help as she might be able to work around these feelings. I know everyone is different but what are ways to bring up the topic. I know it's weird but I can't say "bisexual" out loud. Even though my brain is screaming for me to say it; I just can't bring it up. I see her tomorrow however planning to come out next week. Tl;dr - Tips for coming out to therapist when you struggle to say you're bisexual.
Is it just the word bisexual, or the actual process? Could you say something to the effect if "I like girls too"?
I wanted to tell you that I feel I relate a lot to this post. I too come from a very accepting family, for the most part, but was also pretty much taught this idea of sexuality as a binary, either/or thing. When I was younger, my thought was that being bisexual was just "trendy" and for the "confused." :rolle: It's kinda difficult to change that view-not only within myself, but also to express this to others! I told my therapist at the very end of our last session that I was questioning my sexuality. She has a generally pretty blank face to everything I say, which is usually good, but not so much now. And I have to wait two weeks to discuss it further! So I relate, and I wish us both lots of luck in this process! As for advice, I have in the past, written out things that I have found difficult to say out loud, or just as a means to organize my thoughts, and given that written bit to my therapist. Maybe this is an option you can explore?
It is her job to help you with things you struggle with. The therapist I see has a bit of specialization in LBGT issues and she does drug abuse and anger management. The latter is the reason I am seeing her, haven't disused sexuality as I don't think it is part of the anger management problem. Sitting down with her the first time and saying I have a problem was probably one of the hardest things I have done. As it can't be easy to speak up about the things we struggle with. Depending on how good of a therapist yours is, she might have an idea about your sexuality or that you struggle with it. Writing it down could help, or remind you to just say it. I was asked to keep a little journal of things that triggered my short temper and why it triggered. Either a little note book to just jot down things in or an inconspicuous word document on the computer. Writing has been a pretty big help for myself, in many areas of my life. Since you trust her, I would say you just need to take that step and tell her.
