transsexualism is a jarring condition that produces the same syptoms in the individuals involved as seen in any other traumatic or catastrophic event.
Some people have the coping skills to adapt to the situation, while others simply cannot.
This is obvious in the way a person's own GID manifests itself in their life. Is it when they are young, or after they are much older? When a person becomes aware of their GID, can they put off treatment, or do they have to do something right away?
If we are going to differentiate different levels of transsexualism to embellish those differences in coping skills, to deal with an impossible situation, than I think you need more than primary and secondary.
Childhood: the child never attempts to adapt to their assigned birth sex role, and in the correct family setting, transitions by early adulthood. These cases are rare indeed. They need gentle counseling and supportive parents.
Primary: recognizes their own GID, seeks out help, and is able to finish transition by the early thirties, once their program begins. Probably never ingratiates themself with their own sexual peers during that time. Sexual experimentation is brief or non-existant, even if they have a partner. These people require very little in the way of counseling except if they have fallen into prostitution as a means to finance their situation.
Adult: Becomes increasingly uncomfortable in their life role at work and in their private life. Either has begun to amass family and compensatory material possessions, or has become a hermit. In most trauma victims, people tend to either completely withdraw, or overindulge in an attempt to compensate for their loss. This USED to be the classic definition for a TS before the advent of the internet. These individuals manage to balance their work load and their transition schedule, and finish by their mid-forties. These people probably require the most counseling, because they reach a tipping point as to whether they really want to transition and give up their comfortable life, or whether they are uncomfortable enough to find their own life path in middle age.
Secondary: These individuals fall into a pattern of regret like most people their age. They have probably lived in the role of their assigned gender for so long that they have forgotten what it was like as a child. If they slowly cross over gender lines, they will spend considerable amounts of time seeking acceptance in the queer community before moving on to a new life.
Or, they will discover that they cannot and will not give up the material and familial comforts of life they have accumulated. Either way, these individuals have a large pool of regret they have to deal with along with the normal transition requirements. These people require less counseling than the adult group because most people by this age view transitioning as a fantasy rather than as a reality. The exception being someone that falls into crisis due to other circumstances in their life ~ a catalyst that pushes them toward a transition outcome.
In other words, those with the best coping skills will last the longest as their assigned gender role, and those with the worst, will do the opposite. I am talking about survivability skills here.
I'm talking about the ability of a person to cope with living in the wrong role. If they cannot deal with the demands, they will transition or die.
I just don't think that a before/after category thing works. What is the age grouping? 20? 30? 35?
If I had to do that, than my definitions would be:
a person that never accepts their assigned gender role at birth, never experiments with sex before transitioning, and never experiences what it feels like to be accepted as the assigned gender role at birth is a primary transsexual. I have know a few.
Everyone else is a secondary transsexual.
