So i herd some severe mental disorders can keep a person from transitioning, well later today i go in to be tested for schizophrenia because my doctor thinks i was wrongly diagnosed. Im wondering if that coupled with my OCD could put an end to my transition?
Thanks for any info and opinions.
Kari.
I think it depends on the nature of the illness, and whether transitioning will help or hinder the healing of it.
I have DID ("multiple personalities"), and my System darn near demanded that I/we transition...since then, I/we have integrated several of the Alters and we've achieved a stability that was unheard of before HRT. My depression is much better, although I still have "episodes", they are also much shorter duration and less overwhelming than before.
A diagnosis is never an automatic "Ooooh HELL no...!", it depends on you and how transitioning will affect you. (An exception to this would be if you are not capable of making your own medical decisions.)
I'm not a doctor, lawyer, or anybody but myself.
From an observational standpoint i've noticed that we trans people have a LOT of mental..."issues"... compared to the normal population (and not just depression). It seems that hearing people's stories, I hear a lot about childhood traumatic experiences leading to things.
I'm not saying that being trans causes mental illness or that mental illness causes gender confusion... i'm just saying what i've noticed in a BROAD scale.
So unless you require constant hospitalization or something, i'm sure you'll be fine! Or if they could possibly say you're not in your right state of mind/ control of your mental faculties, I guess that could be a problem.
(and multiple personalities, i've read a lot about that, it's quite an interesting topic for me)
Also, I seem to recall the WPATH guidelines saying something like, "being in the care of a doctor for mental health issues is not an exclusion to transition"...I'm on my phone right now, so I can't easily look for it for you...Google it, I think they're up to v.7 now.