First therapy

[Iamlost]

Just wondering what you could expect when you get there. Do they ask you questions? Or do they ask for your life story first? Or is it a mix of both? And how many times did you go before you were diagnosed?

[Dena]

You get out of it what you put into it. If your therapist understands exactly how you feel, the diagnosis is relatively quick and can probably be made in 3-4 visits. If the therapist suspect you aren't telling the truth, the diagnosis can be greatly delayed. Therapy is talking about yourself, how you feel about things and how you are dealing with your problems. There is no set questions and the conversation may go anywhere the subject takes it. The therapist may ask questions to get things started but if a therapist ask to many question, it may prevent the truth from coming out.

The story of your life will be discussed but the point of therapy is to deal with how you feel now and resolve the problems that you have now.

[Megan.]

I've been working with a wonderful therapist for three years now. They are my outlet for many of my more private thoughts and feelings. In the UK it's not gatekeeping for HRT, just part of my support network.
My sessions are usually me talking alot with the therapist either reflecting back my thoughts to help me get perspective on them or challenging me with the occasional question. X

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[Laurie]

  Like the others have said my therapist usually starts by asking how I have been since my last visit. If there is a particular issues I and trying to deal with he may ask along those lines.
  But what you want to know is what the initial session is like. For me my first step in getting therapy was a mental health by a psychiatrist (I think, she could have been a psychologist) Anyway  because it was an assessment of my state on mind she had a lot of questions to go through and most were yes or no type answers. Then we talked about why I was seeking gender therapy and I told her  my story. By the end of the 2 hours? she had made the diagnosis of gender dysphoria and referred me on to my current therapist.
  On his initial visit I once again related the story of my life  cross dressing and wanting to be a girl and various stories along those lines throughout my life. By the end of that hour he agreed with the diagnosis.
My GP whom I had first com out to and who arranged for therapy had already determined to his satisfaction that I was transgender and had ordered my HRT through the VA. ( I had already started them myself)
   Your takeaway on this is that it did not take any of the three doctors I have seen long at all to determine I was transgender..

Hope it helps you with your anxiety. Just be open and honest with them from the start as it can only help then help you.

Hugs,
   Laurie

[JoanneB]

First sessions for me (all 2) seemed a bit one sided in the "Getting to Know You" pyscho-social stuff. Followed by the "What do you want to accomplish?"

If you are there for the trans stuf, it is generally for either of 1 of 2 reasons.
A) you want the "Permission Slip" aka "Letter"
or B) You want to work on the tons of emotional baggage that came with being trans
or C) "Eventually" maybe... both 

[Roll]

For me it was establishing some baseline history and what I was hoping to accomplish. Don't play things up, don't play things down, just be honest. From there it was working through things as they came up, and mostly using it as a way to vent and explore feelings.

[Katie Ellen]

I just went to my first therapy. She is a gender therapist, so she pretty much knew why I was there. It was an hour and a half meeting. I basically told my life story for the first 45 minutes. She asked a few questions along the way. The main one I remember was "what do you hope to get from this". She asked about my family history too. I go for my 2nd next week. Maybe that will go a lot different. We'll see.