http://tigerwiccan.livejournal.com/ (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
tigerwiccan.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
trans2006-07-05 01:02 pm
tigerwiccan.livejournal.com) wrote in trans2006-07-05 01:02 pm
Therapists
I've been reading a bit about therapists in genreral on here, and that reminded me of my first (and only, so far) trip to a therapist regarding my gender issues. I had called my company EAP and asked them to give me a list of therapists that dealt in gender issues. I found one that was relatively close, and called her to make an appointment. She verified that she did in fact deal with gender identity issues, so I made an appointment to meet her.
When I went to see her, I told her that I felt like a woman and ultimately would want to transition. She then proceeded to say that I could be just as happy living as a feminine man who occasionally wears women's clothes. For anyone else that has seen a therapist (I'm assuming that alot of people here have), did they first try to tell you that you could be happier as your birth gender, after only 10-20 minutes of conversation? Granted, I told her that I would never kill myself over being a man or anything, but there is big difference between not being totally miserable and being completely happy with myself when I look at a mirror. It seemed to me that her first suggestion to me as my therapist was to just "cope" with being a man. Is that the usual thing they tell people? Her response in that first session totally turned me off to seeing her or any other therapist again for the time. But I know that if I ever want to really transition anytime in the future, I'm going to have to go see another one eventually.
So should I just brace myself for another session like I had with the first therapist, or are there any out there that really understand the issue and don't try to talk you out of it from the start?
When I went to see her, I told her that I felt like a woman and ultimately would want to transition. She then proceeded to say that I could be just as happy living as a feminine man who occasionally wears women's clothes. For anyone else that has seen a therapist (I'm assuming that alot of people here have), did they first try to tell you that you could be happier as your birth gender, after only 10-20 minutes of conversation? Granted, I told her that I would never kill myself over being a man or anything, but there is big difference between not being totally miserable and being completely happy with myself when I look at a mirror. It seemed to me that her first suggestion to me as my therapist was to just "cope" with being a man. Is that the usual thing they tell people? Her response in that first session totally turned me off to seeing her or any other therapist again for the time. But I know that if I ever want to really transition anytime in the future, I'm going to have to go see another one eventually.
So should I just brace myself for another session like I had with the first therapist, or are there any out there that really understand the issue and don't try to talk you out of it from the start?