TG and Depression?

[Ryan]

I've not been here for long, but I've already noticed a few threads and posts about self harm and eating disorders.
I myself suffer with mild depression and have self harmed for the past three years.

I was just wondering how common depression and problems related with depression are amongst transgendered people.

Are the two linked?

[Lachlann]

I'd say they're linked, usually.

Some people get dysphoria really bad and dealing with parents or peers who might not be so accepting of your 'quirks' can cause some depression issues later on. Not to mention that living in the wrong body for a great deal of your life can be very difficult.

Though everyone has a different story and sometimes depression isn't existent or comes later on when they figure things out for themselves.

[findingreason]

I'd say very much they're related. They probably even live hand-in-hand with each other. I've been having a joy juggling college and gender issues, it's not fun when I get depression attacks.

I'm past it, but there was a point when I was self-destructive and suicidal on a regular basis. Part of it was gender, part of it was lack of self-esteem, confidence and just plain misery.

[Nicky]

I'm not so sure. I don't think they are linked but:

I think for many of us we become 'depressed' because of the presures we face. The good news is once the gender issues are somewhat resolved we tend to 'bounce back'.

But then there are some people that are predisposed to clinical depression - the kind that you never really cure but you learn to live with and manage i.e. they have a mental illness. Being transgendered is a heck of a hard ride for them. Unfortunately once they resolve their gender issues they often discover they still get depressed.

I suspect most of us are in the former camp.

[Ryan]

Yeah. I've been diagnosed with depression. It's not just "oh, I feel sad today."

I wouldn't say it has anything to do with my gender issues though.
It's in the family, so I think I'm just unlucky.

[Nicky]

Yeah. I've been diagnosed with depression. It's not just "oh, I feel sad today."

I wouldn't say it has anything to do with my gender issues though.
It's in the family, so I think I'm just unlucky.

It must be extremly hard to live with depression Gizzy. My wife suffers from depression. It can be so insidius, it creeps up on you. It really is like Trent Reznor put it - going down the spiral, that is for me as an external observer. No idea what it is like on the inside.

I think a lot of people don't get what depression is like assuming it is just like being really sad or down. From what I have seen it is not like that at all. From living with my wife, when she is down the spiral all I see is this sense of deadness, a closing off from the world, like they are filled with lead and it is an effort to do anything as if swimming in treacle. It is like there is a barrier between them and feeling 'alive'. When your depressed it seems to me like being dead, you become a zombie and lose all ability to share emotion and human contact. Everything looks grey, sounds are never sweet, things lose their smell and taste and food becomes ash. All I sense is that they feel their existance is a burden on the world and they feel it is their fault the world is so grey. Happyness is painful, efforts to cheer them up makes them feel like they are letting you down for not being happier.

I don't know if it is like this for you Gizzy, but it certainly is my experience from living with a depressed person. The interesting thing is she can never remember what it was like when she is ok, but also when she is depressed she can't remember things ever being different. People can express sadness, but when depressed people lose the ability to express anything.

[mr_marc]

I reckon the depression and TG are linked.
Hating the way you look is one thing, but being in a body your not supposed too aaand hating the way you look. Is even worse lol.
But TG can cause depression, i think its more the 'whats to come' and 'why am i like this' aspect has alot to do with it.

[michael]

uh oh, "warning:this topic has not been posted in for at least 30 days"

i'm gonna risk it.

Hi Gizzy, Hi Nicky, and everyone else.

i think Nicky's right that there can be different things going on...depression that comes from gender dysphoria and feeling misfit, vs depression or a mental illness that is chemical or genetic and you just happen to have both! though they seem to work together sometimes. like criminals partnering up robbing banks.

i've been confused about it a lot. i'm 31 and have had depression off and on, the last one was pretty bad and involved something quite like delusions and hallucinations, racing thoughts, high suicide dangers. it was beyond and very different from what many people assume depression to be. and yet around this same time was when i started trying to decide if i need to do something about my feelings about my gender. (sorry i can't come up with savvy words for it! lol.)

so it was hard for me to know if my desire to be male was REAL or part of a mental illness. (i was worried it was not a gender dysphoria, but getting upset over something in an irrational way and acting impulsive...cause after having that bad bout i didn't trust my own thoughts.) But over time i see my thoughts about that stay similar all the time really, so that's starting to feel sorted out.

and then there are other times when i'm thinking about how i feel like my body is monstrous or i'm a freak and i get depressed...but THAT doesn't feel like the real bad depression felt. so i'm learning to tell what's what...what requires going to the doc and what requires looking for a gender therapist.

this may sound like a big mess...but i just wanted to say, i understand why you say you feel unlucky Gizzy.  it's not been easy for me so far. there are times when i'm pretty sure BOTH things are partnering up to beat me down! ow.