I feel forced to lie to the gender therapist

[Chaos]

Its safe to say that there is alot we dont know about the situation.bits and pieces missing.Did he tell his doctor that he had dysphoria? there is alot of things that come into play here but i feel the need to find out by looking up this kind of practice and see what normally brings one to make this request.in either case,im sure the doctor had a good reason to ask.

[MaidofOrleans]

I will refer to this thread for some background.

https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,134970.0.html

[Rabbit]

He tells you not to masturbate? ... for a week?

If someone asked me to do that before transition, I would have laughed lol. What type of joke is that?? What does feeling frisky have to do with being trans??

[Lorri Kat]

I will refer to this thread for some background.

https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,134970.0.html

That put things into context quite a bit!   Ultimus, does the thereapist know all of this background that you listed in the above link?   Because I believe that it draws a fairly clear line,coupled with this and your other threads, as to where you are now.       Sista,  sometimes you just have to 'Dash thru the door , wide open warm'.

[Senrab]

Just a thought, considering in science you need to control variables to figure things out, and the psychology of why you a feel transgendered is definitely a science to your therapist, it makes sense that he would want you to stop masturbating to see if your thoughts hold when sex is removed.  There's no reason to say that fetishism and transexuality are linked, but that's all the more reason to do this- if you go without masturbating and your feelings persist even when you are feeling very non-sexual it's a guarantee that you do in fact have gender identity issues rooted in your personality and not your sex drive.

Just my two cents.  As a current PhD student in neuroscience this makes sense to me.  I can see how it would be difficult though, especially because I think masturbation is one easy way of mentally feeling your gender(for some people) which is stress free and therefor hard to stop sometimes.

[Rabbit]

it makes sense that he would want you to stop masturbating to see if your thoughts hold when sex is removed.

I don't know how you work... but when I wasn't on hormones and I would go days without things, it would only become more and more on my mind. Sexual desire doesn't vanish because you stop masturbating...it increases! lol

[Senrab]

"I don't know how you work... but when I wasn't on hormones and I would go days without things, it would only become more and more on my mind. Sexual desire doesn't vanish because you stop masturbating...it increases! lol"

Haha, that can be true, at least for a little while.  I think for me it goes up at first but then after awhile the impulse actually goes down.  If nothing else though, the more conditions your therapist can assess you in, the more sure he can be that your gender identity is pervasive in your personality and not tied to a specific issue.

Then again people aren't lab rats, so it definitely would be your prerogative whether or not you were willing to do that for a therapist.  Ha I hope my scientific training isn't warping my mind...

[Sarah Louise]

Senrab is this now saying you Are on Hormones?  Your first post you said you had decided not to go on hormones.

[Senrab]

"Senrab is this now saying you Are on Hormones?  Your first post you said you had decided not to go on hormones."

No I'm not, I'm talking about sex drive relating to time since masturbation, not time on hormones

[Henna]

I have a similar problem sort of, which thankfully is dwindling lately in that there is that urge to masturbate a lot. It's an urge at least to me, which has got nothing to do with the fact whether I'm aroused or not.

I actually described the need to masturbate in a therapy session with an analogy of going to a bathroom: "Everyone needs to visit a bathroom, but I don't think many really enjoy it. Masturbating for me is the same thing. I have to do it, but I don't enjoy it. Like visiting a bathroom".

You might want to try tucking, if you want to get rid of that blasted thing telling you what to do. Since I've started tucking nearly 24/7, the urge to masturbate has gone down dramatically. As _it_ cannot "live" anymore like it wants to, the urge seems a lot less and I feel much better about myself.