First session on Thursday

[kyril]

I finally came to the top of the waiting list, and I have my first appointment for therapy this Thursday!

But I'm kind of nervous. It's an intake appointment where they'll be deciding what kind of services I need and who I should be seeing. Now, I'm really only going to get my letter, but the truth is that I do have issues with depression (monthly plus seasonal) and I have a past diagnosis of PTSD. I don't necessarily want to work on those issues right now if it will delay the gender-related stuff (I really need my hormones to be straightened out before I consider depression meds again).

But I don't like lying, either. If I'm upfront about the other stuff, is it likely to cause a problem? I'm going to an LGBT-specific counseling center and they know I'm going specifically for trans stuff.

[Janet_Girl]

I would be up front about what it is you want.  They can not say no we will do this first.  You are in control of your therapy.

[kyril]

That's unfortunately not the experience I've had with past therapists. I'm not very good at confrontation/asserting myself (especially not against a middle-aged woman) so I don't tend to be in control of much of anything.

[no_id]

Hey Kyril, first off; gz on getting that appointment. Now part of the waiting game is finally over - no more staring at your inbox.

As for what to do (what to do, what to do...)... I guess the fact that you're pondering about it (the depression issues) do make them important, but I suppose the question is also if dealing with the gender-related topics would relieve the depression issue as well.

Of course there's no easy bet on this one and you can break your head over it but that won't do much. I'd say just go there and see what questions are asked. Likely you'll know what to do then (one question will provoke more emotion than the other of course). Good luck.

[Nero]

Hmm. It really depends on the therapist. I think to be on the safe side I'd try not to get into the other stuff the first session. Especially anything pretty heavy. You know, sort of set the tone for future sessions. You can always get into the other stuff later when you're making progress on the gender stuff.