To us who are transisitioning or not, it varies. There is a sort of a calming effect that there is something finally done with our condition.
To those men who are taking them for prostate and testicular cancers, it is a life saving form of treatment. Usually they are over 70 when these men take estrogen for that as they do not worry about their self image as they did when they are younger. The younger non-TS men will get anxiety over the effects. One was on this forum about 6 months ago and has testicular cancer spread in his body during his teens, his father died of the same thing. They had given him an orchie as a treatment and given him the full HRT regimen. He said that he was never allowed to develop as a teenage boy and has the shape of a female and cannot take any androgens. He was deciding whether to look and live as a female because of this even though he feels like that he's still a boy.
It is the mindset at the beginning that helps with the HRT treatment before any treatment starts. I seen some non transisitioners take it a lot better than what I've read on some members' threads in this forum the past year. For myself getting on HRT at age 58 for prostate problems and my GID, it was a relief. It has got rid of my depression and the long deep mood swings, but in some of the others, the opposite occurs in the first year on HRT. I have gotten more things done I needed to do this past year than I did for a long time mainly because of the emotional relief.
Joelene