Why so many transgender girls are struggling with mental issues these days?

[TatianaSummer]

It seems like 90% of the girls I know are struggling with some kind of mental issue. Of course I would say this has to do with being transgender but rarely I meet a girl that is just down to earth, relax, and not a drama queen. I know sometimes it has to do with their past and experiences though but hopefully I start seeing a change in this. I know also a few transgender guys (at least 3) and at least all the ones I know don't have any of these mental issues and they just live a "regular" life. So is it the hormones the girls are taking? or not taking hormones what is causing this? Ok now I am lost, LOL. what is your opinion on this?

[tao1kiku]

From the experiences I've had with my wife, it is a bit of both. She seems to have less mood swings when using the hormone patch rather than pills. And past relationships /scars, experiences have not helped at all. But have also found that being in a legally married relationship has definitely helped her to become more relaxed, down to earth, no drama

[robertlouis]

It seems like 90% of the girls I know are struggling with some kind of mental issue. Of course I would say this has to do with being transgender but rarely I meet a girl that is just down to earth, relax, and not a drama queen. I know sometimes it has to do with their past and experiences though but hopefully I start seeing a change in this. I know also a few transgender guys (at least 3) and at least all the ones I know don't have any of these mental issues and they just live a "regular" life. So is it the hormones the girls are taking? or not taking hormones what is causing this? Ok now I am lost, LOL. what is your opinion on this?

Are you talking about girls in porn or girls who simply live either in stealth or out, Tatiana?

[tsmirandameadows]

I would say that being trans is a slow burning trauma which often has severe deleterious effects on one's social-emotional functioning. Furthermore, I would say that being an MtF transsexual imposes certain psychological and particularly social demands which being an FtM does not. For example, bathroom scare screeds are always built around the notion of a perverted guy claiming to be a girl so that he can go into the women's restroom to molest the womenfolk and little girls: you never hear scare stories about perverted women sneaking into the men's room. Because of culture's gender norms, a "man masquerading as a woman" is perceived as threatening in a way that a "woman masquerading as a man" does not. Likewise, in fiction, the former is always treated as comic and absurd, the latter as a mark of cleverness. Couple with this with the insecurities and second class citizen status all women face, and being an MtF is probably the harder row to hoe, even if FtMs don't have an easy path either.

All that aside, being trans is traumatic. Furthermore, it is a lifelong trauma, which changes over time in form and intensity, but never fully goes away. The extent to which someone is able to manage that trauma depends a lot on external factors, i.e. family/social support, financial stability, supportive (or not) educational environment, supportive (or not) work environment, stable housing, unrelated mental health problems, disabilities, etc. If you have a bad mix of external factors, it becomes much harder to bear the trauma of being trans without there being lasting negative side effects on your psyche.

In my own case -- and I most certainly qualify as one of the drama queens you mentioned -- I had a very bad mix of external factors and I couldn't bear up under the weight of it all. That isn't to suggest that no one else has problems, just that when I consider my history from as objective a standpoint as I can muster, it is little wonder I'm as fucked as I am. My family history is extremely fucked up, featuring long-term abuse and poverty, parents with mental health problems and a brother with severe physical disability absorbing all of the energy and effort of the family. I experienced pretty severe bullying in my school years, eventually leading to a behavior pattern of social isolation and inability to form friendships/relationships which persists to this day. I inherited a bipolar spectrum mood disorder from my great grandfather, and as a consequence I was in and out of school as a kid, unable to maintain a stable mood state for any extended period of time. That pattern of cycling between marginal functionality and complete dysfunctionality has persisted into my adult years. My initial attempts at transition were very unsuccessful and led to near complete social rejection and long term unemployment. I could go on, and while I don't mean to suggest that I'm the only one with problems, I do want to emphasize that the sum total of the challenges I have faced has been quite large, and the fact that I am such damaged goods is directly related to that.

[TatianaSummer]

Are you talking about girls in porn or girls who simply live either in stealth or out, Tatiana?

both, not specific porn stars or stealth. but the porn stars, and escorts are even more. not all but most.

[GroobySteven]

Ok, here's what probably many are thinking but don't want to hear - and I'm not pointing this at any one or two individuals, I've noticed this over the past few years and discussed it with other people.

Firstly, are the percentage of real transgender girls struggling with mental issues than say, 10 yrs ago? Probably not. What you have is meltdown's and over-sharing on social networks and public forums which in turn are discussed, disseminated and everyone has advice, opinions or at least a "keep your chin, up" sort of comment. There were plenty of TG's around 10 yrs ago (or 20) with plenty of mental issues but often the first time you heard about them, was when they ended up dead.

Secondly, do these outbursts of oversharing actually help the individuals or do they exacerbate the situation. Are we giving them an outlet for their issues by responding/reading, or are we giving them a crutch, a reason or enabling them to seek even more and more attention?

Finally ... and I fully expect a bunch of shit on this but there is an elephant in the room that I haven't seen discussed.
We have TG's who have emotional and mental issues caused by all types of situations, whether they be behavioral or related physically (as in hormones, genetics, etc.) to their transgenderism. That's pretty much accepted and needs to be worked with.
Let me introduce a slightly difference concept. We've seen a lot of new transgenders into the scene over the last 5 or so years. Many of them identify somewhere different along the typical spectrum of transgender, many of them come from different backgrounds to what the girls of 10-20 yrs* ago did.
How many of these "new girls" are mentally ill before they become TG. How many of them are looking to escape, or make a change to their lives as their illnesses make them unhappy or dis-satisfied? How many of them after making those fairly drastic changes, find out that their unhappiness, their malcontent, and their mental illnesses still exist? Is this why we see more girls de-transitioning?

There is no one answer and I don't believe there is a right answer but I do believe if statistics were done on this, that you'd find many of the more recent girls who've transitioned (and not only within the adult arena) may have issues unrelated to their transgenderism which were apparent before they even considered transitioning.



* when I talk about 10-20 yrs, that's how long I've been in the industry and met and known 1000's of TG's over that time.

[TatianaSummer]

I would say that being trans is a slow burning trauma which often has severe deleterious effects on one's social-emotional functioning. Furthermore, I would say that being an MtF transsexual imposes certain psychological and particularly social demands which being an FtM does not. For example, bathroom scare screeds are always built around the notion of a perverted guy claiming to be a girl so that he can go into the women's restroom to molest the womenfolk and little girls: you never hear scare stories about perverted women sneaking into the men's room. Because of culture's gender norms, a "man masquerading as a woman" is perceived as threatening in a way that a "woman masquerading as a man" does not. Likewise, in fiction, the former is always treated as comic and absurd, the latter as a mark of cleverness. Couple with this with the insecurities and second class citizen status all women face, and being an MtF is probably the harder row to hoe, even if FtMs don't have an easy path either.

All that aside, being trans is traumatic. Furthermore, it is a lifelong trauma, which changes over time in form and intensity, but never fully goes away. The extent to which someone is able to manage that trauma depends a lot on external factors, i.e. family/social support, financial stability, supportive (or not) educational environment, supportive (or not) work environment, stable housing, unrelated mental health problems, disabilities, etc. If you have a bad mix of external factors, it becomes much harder to bear the trauma of being trans without there being lasting negative side effects on your psyche.

In my own case -- and I most certainly qualify as one of the drama queens you mentioned -- I had a very bad mix of external factors and I couldn't bear up under the weight of it all. That isn't to suggest that no one else has problems, just that when I consider my history from as objective a standpoint as I can muster, it is little wonder I'm as fucked as I am. My family history is extremely fucked up, featuring long-term abuse and poverty, parents with mental health problems and a brother with severe physical disability absorbing all of the energy and effort of the family. I experienced pretty severe bullying in my school years, eventually leading to a behavior pattern of social isolation and inability to form friendships/relationships which persists to this day. I inherited a bipolar spectrum mood disorder from my great grandfather, and as a consequence I was in and out of school as a kid, unable to maintain a stable mood state for any extended period of time. That pattern of cycling between marginal functionality and complete dysfunctionality has persisted into my adult years. My initial attempts at transition were very unsuccessful and led to near complete social rejection and long term unemployment. I could go on, and while I don't mean to suggest that I'm the only one with problems, I do want to emphasize that the sum total of the challenges I have faced has been quite large, and the fact that I am such damaged goods is directly related to that.

Miranda, first thank you for sharing with us your view and experiences! I do have to say it takes lots of strength to bring to us all these details about your previous life, and Yes I see your point about the bathroom issue. I would say that you are right about m2f and f2m difference. Society has teach people that if a girl dresses as a boy it doesn't matter but if a boy dresses as a girl then he is gay, the "f" word, dishonor the family, bla bla bla and so on.

[Rivz]

I also want to add that there might be alot of side symptoms associated with gender dysphoria, namely depression. As the girls align their bodies they think magically the depression goes away, which may not be the case the depression is there, and it might not be just the dysphoria.

As one who battle depression, it's just that it's a battle. Some days I win, some days I horribly lose. Sometimes these "drama queens" are reaching out, trying to find a voice of reason in their crumbling world.

I think that coupled with lowering fund available from the government to fund mental health, alot of these girls are swept the side, or given drugs to cure their problem, when we should probably be teaching coping skills.

[TatianaSummer]

Ok, here's what probably many are thinking but don't want to hear - and I'm not pointing this at any one or two individuals, I've noticed this over the past few years and discussed it with other people.

Firstly, are the percentage of real transgender girls struggling with mental issues than say, 10 yrs ago? Probably not. What you have is meltdown's and over-sharing on social networks and public forums which in turn are discussed, disseminated and everyone has advice, opinions or at least a "keep your chin, up" sort of comment. There were plenty of TG's around 10 yrs ago (or 20) with plenty of mental issues but often the first time you heard about them, was when they ended up dead.

Secondly, do these outbursts of oversharing actually help the individuals or do they exacerbate the situation. Are we giving them an outlet for their issues by responding/reading, or are we giving them a crutch, a reason or enabling them to seek even more and more attention?

Finally ... and I fully expect a bunch of shit on this but there is an elephant in the room that I haven't seen discussed.
We have TG's who have emotional and mental issues caused by all types of situations, whether they be behavioral or related physically (as in hormones, genetics, etc.) to their transgenderism. That's pretty much accepted and needs to be worked with.
Let me introduce a slightly difference concept. We've seen a lot of new transgenders into the scene over the last 5 or so years. Many of them identify somewhere different along the typical spectrum of transgender, many of them come from different backgrounds to what the girls of 10-20 yrs* ago did.
How many of these "new girls" are mentally ill before they become TG. How many of them are looking to escape, or make a change to their lives as their illnesses make them unhappy or dis-satisfied? How many of them after making those fairly drastic changes, find out that their unhappiness, their malcontent, and their mental illnesses still exist? Is this why we see more girls de-transitioning?

There is no one answer and I don't believe there is a right answer but I do believe if statistics were done on this, that you'd find many of the more recent girls who've transitioned (and not only within the adult arena) may have issues unrelated to their transgenderism which were apparent before they even considered transitioning.



* when I talk about 10-20 yrs, that's how long I've been in the industry and met and known 1000's of TG's over that time.

Ohh I totally agree that most of them their issues started before transitioning but why way after transitioning these problems keep being an issue? I guess there is no real answer then. I think that the mental issues of these girls are created my society, if society would accept these girls (passable and non passable) then most of their issues would fade. They would get more jobs, more opportunities would open up, better understanding guys/girls not only people trying to "fu@(" them as a piece of meat and then feel guilty, etc etc
So what do people need to do to help fix this? Perhaps educating society is one of the top priorities. Giving special education to those not familiar with the transgender community, use the power of the media to help society understand what's being a transgender person and that we are no different than their boss, friends, neighbors, family, coworkers etc. They don't have to accept us, just understand us. That's why I always try to educate at least one person every time I can, I know its not much but hopefully one day that person with educate others and create a chain.

[TatianaSummer]

I also want to add that there might be alot of side symptoms associated with gender dysphoria, namely depression. As the girls align their bodies they think magically the depression goes away, which may not be the case the depression is there, and it might not be just the dysphoria.

As one who battle depression, it's just that it's a battle. Some days I win, some days I horribly lose. Sometimes these "drama queens" are reaching out, trying to find a voice of reason in their crumbling world.

I think that coupled with lowering fund available from the government to fund mental health, alot of these girls are swept the side, or given drugs to cure their problem, when we should probably be teaching coping skills.

I personally think that these girls are all fine, just that the problems are being created by society. If society wasn't as how it is on them then they would not be running into so many situations, lowering problems means less stress and more positive foundation to keep moving forward with their heads up. From the boys pointing their finger to the professionals at gov offices it all stacks up until these girls can't handle. If society didn't judge them and was fine and "normal" to them then this girls would feel more comfortable being themselves.