I have read all about the physical effects of feminizing HRT, but haven't seen as much in the way of detailed information regarding the mental effects. I have seen some piece of information somewhere saying that going from male hormones levels to female hormone levels will reduce ability to think spatially.

There appear to be so many claims about the differences between men and women's natural abilities, but it is hard to know what is a socially constructed stereotype and what is in fact the dichotomy of nature. So I wonder if the claims about a change in mental abilities before and after HRT is based on sexist assumptions or if it is real.

I'm not particularly talented in any area, but if I had to say which two types of mental abilities are my best, I would say language abilities and spatial abilities. It would be terrible to lose one out of my two. Unless I was going to gain something new. I actually have a bachelor of arts degree in languages, which proved to not have a great job market potential, so I've gone back to school for a bachelor of science in a field related to spatial thinking. Soon I will go on to start a master of science degree that extends into the physics, and imaging of this particular type of spatially oriented work. Among several other factors in the decision of whether to transition or not to transition, I have only recently thought to take my mental abilities into consideration. It seems like it would be terrible self-sabotage if I were to handicap my mental abilities right before I go on to the most difficult part so far.

Has anyone noticed a change in their mental abilities? Good or bad, in any area at all? I'm curious about anything you have that has changed, especially in terms of aptitude. But I am especially interested in that claim about scientific or spatiall thinking aptitude. Please let me know.

Side note curiosity... how long does it take for a hormonal level change to be felt mentally? So one of the points in this question is that I wonder if a single day's worth of estrogen boost or testosterone decline (or vice versa) would be noticeable in the short-term. That might enable me to try before I buy. Or have a temporary enhancement in one area or another. The other possibility being that these mental processes, like the body, are produced by long-term changes in the physical configuration of the brain.

Though I'm an FTM, I thought I'd pop on to say that my mental abilities have changed dramatically. Pre-T, I excelled at painting/drawing/sculpting/writing but had absolutely no talent or skill when it came to anything technical or mechanical in nature. It took a few months--six, perhaps?--to notice the shift but it's changed my life. It started when I'd catch myself really inspecting things and breaking them down into their individual working parts only to mentally rebuild them. Power tools used to piss me off and make me a little edgy so I'd always opt for hand tools if I absolutely had to do something. I love them now and have gotten into the habit of learning my equipment to disassemble it when necessary and perform maintenance. I couldn't have built anything substantial to save my life before; I just finished building a vanity, a coffee table and a specialized decorative table for our bathroom without plans or external guidance. I just jumped in and taught myself with relative ease.

Nothing makes me 'edgy' anymore. I have full confidence that, if I inspect something long enough, I can determine how it functions and make it work for me. It's sort of like a bridge has been laid across a previously insurmountable canyon.

It would seem, however, that a small bit of my creativity and flare for language have been sacrificed. That said, I do feel much less lopsided as a result.

I have noticed that I get overly emotional  over things, I also over think what people are saying and try to figure out what the really meant  if the person has a history of sarcasm. I feel more concerned about  animals and the emotional pain of the female staff I work with as for some reason  even when I was male  they told me stuff that was extremely  personal and now I get it even more. I do find when I am in negotiations  with my boss or meetings I have a harder time being super strong against him. As I have to do all that as I am union president .

Quote from: Nevoxia on October 21, 2017, 10:11:43 PM
Has anyone noticed a change in their mental abilities? Good or bad, in any area at all? I'm curious about anything you have that has changed, especially in terms of aptitude. But I am especially interested in that claim about scientific or spatiall thinking aptitude. Please let me know.

If you take estrogen, plan on your IQ dropping 10 points right off the bat. If you transition, the perception of your intelligence drops another 10. You will become indecisive, submissive, forget the difference between a Phillips screwdriver and a flat one and have problems parking your car. You'll never remember where you put your keys even though you now feel the need to carry a purse and you'll cry over TV commercials. It's murder, I tell ya! [/sarcasm]

QuoteSo I wonder if the claims about a change in mental abilities before and after HRT is based on sexist assumptions or if it is real.

Yes, that is a sexist assumption. Taking hormones is not going to make you stupid. While it's true due to neuroplasticity that HRT can have influence on several structures of the brain but none that I know of that would affect "mental abilities" you already have that are wired in.

What may change is how you feel about things? You may well retain your spatial abilities but they may not mean as much to you as they do now as a random example?

QuoteSide note curiosity... how long does it take for a hormonal level change to be felt mentally? So one of the points in this question is that I wonder if a single day's worth of estrogen boost or testosterone decline (or vice versa) would be noticeable in the short-term. That might enable me to try before I buy. Or have a temporary enhancement in one area or another. The other possibility being that these mental processes, like the body, are produced by long-term changes in the physical configuration of the brain.

When you say "mentally", it almost seems like you believe hormones will make you stupid? What you may experience are influences on your attitudes and emotions that may shift your interests and focus but you're not going to lose your mind. Consider though that heading down this path is very difficult and filled with challenges that may distract you from your goals and well laid out plans. Being trans takes a lot of overhead. By joining this forum and asking questions, it's already become a distraction. Going down this rabbit hole isn't going to help that unless you've got a couple of years to work through all this should you decide to transition (or decide this path's not for you) and then put it behind you and move on with your life.

If you're looking for a place to start, try anti-androgens to quash your testosterone and see how you feel. Most doctors start off with that for a bit before even starting low-dose estrogens anyway. People that do start HRT often report feeling more emotional, sensitive or connected and how long that take depends on the person and their medical regime. It is usually subtle and may take a few weeks or a few months to notice anything but getting dumber is not something often reported.

No short term "single day" worth of anything is going to make a bit a difference. Keep researching and learning and find a therapist.

The biggest effect was positive in that it removed the distraction of dysphoria allowing me to concentrate on things much better than before.  I also noticed a somewhat improved ability to write although that ability was pretty good before anyway.  I have not noticed a decrease in any ability.  Mechanically I am pretty incompetent but that has always been true.  Mathematically, particularly in the area of statistics, I still excel.

I also have not noticed any change in spatial abilities.  One thing to consider is many of these differences are based on stereotypes. I once read a study that showed that at higher educational and higher IQ levels that there is no real difference in mental abilities between men and women.  My personal experience is that this is true.


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 Hi Hon,

Often people will report a degree of euphoria after starting the cross sex hormone. That can be quite immediate but is probably a placebo effect. Oestrogen has been reported to flood the T receptors in the brain in around 8 hours but I have never seen the evidence and certainly any 'rewiring' will take much longer.

On average the female brain is physically smaller than the male brain. The female cranium is smaller than the male as, on average, the entire female skeleton and organs. There is no association between brain size and IQ. Oh Einstein's brain was in the lower percentile of average weight for a male brain.

As for me. I'm a science research worker and pathologist and I have not noticed any diminution in my skills or intelligence. Also as Deborah said, I am less distracted by unpleasant thoughts and of course being happy makes you more productive and a lot of difference in achieving goals.

My dysphoria and libido were the two big distractions in my life. They are both essentially gone aside the odd stray thought.
My focus and concentration at work has improved without these distractions.
I've lost interest in some hobbies,  like cinema,  that previously functioned as a form of escapism.
I still have good days and bad days like anyone,  but that's just life [emoji5].


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That was quite helpful. I appreciate everyone's replies. I had only recently become concerned about changes in mental aptitudes and attitudes, but I am no longer concerned after reading of your accounts.

I apologize to anyone that I may have offended by using the word "mental".
The word mental does not mean stupid. Here is the definition of mental:
"men·tal adjective 1. relating to the mind."

I certainly was not implying anything about female hormones resulting in decreased intelligence. It is extremely difficult to offend me and so I tend to assume that others are the same way. And so I often have trouble predicting what choice of words or phrasing may offend others, especially in the modern climate where it seems as if there are people who enjoy being offended about everything.

I did somewhat suspect that there may be a trade-off in mental abilities, by emphasizing some aptitudes and de-emphasizing others. As one potential example: emphasizing verbal skills and de-emphasizing mechanical skills. I have both of those skills, and could likely tolerate a rebalancing, I just wanted to know what to expect.

This does not sound as if it is the case, but is instead a rebalancing of priorities, interests and demeanor that may have the appearance of rebalanced aptitudes.

Quote from: TransAm on October 22, 2017, 01:21:30 AM
Though I'm an FTM, I thought I'd pop on to say that my mental abilities have changed dramatically. Pre-T, I excelled at painting/drawing/sculpting/writing but had absolutely no talent or skill when it came to anything technical or mechanical in nature. It took a few months--six, perhaps?--to notice the shift but it's changed my life. It started when I'd catch myself really inspecting things and breaking them down into their individual working parts only to mentally rebuild them. Power tools used to piss me off and make me a little edgy so I'd always opt for hand tools if I absolutely had to do something. I love them now and have gotten into the habit of learning my equipment to disassemble it when necessary and perform maintenance. I couldn't have built anything substantial to save my life before; I just finished building a vanity, a coffee table and a specialized decorative table for our bathroom without plans or external guidance. I just jumped in and taught myself with relative ease.

Nothing makes me 'edgy' anymore. I have full confidence that, if I inspect something long enough, I can determine how it functions and make it work for me. It's sort of like a bridge has been laid across a previously insurmountable canyon.

It would seem, however, that a small bit of my creativity and flare for language have been sacrificed. That said, I do feel much less lopsided as a result.

I'm glad you included your experience. I think FTM is just as relevant and as interesting as MTF is in order to understand how hormones work. I wonder if the FTM transition is significantly different on brain functions. There are a few aspects of biology that seem to imply that female is the "default" state (for lack of a better word) and male is the "forward" state. Such as when babies are still developing in utero, they are often said to be building from a female template regardless of chromosomes. As an illustrative example, when baby boys are completely insensitive to androgens, they will develop normal female bodies (externally) despite having XY chromosomes.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_androgen_insensitivity_syndrome

So I suspect based on that pattern that MTF hormone therapy may not have as drastic an effect as FTM because it is more compatible in the design to go "forward" than to go "reverse." So it may impact thought processes more drastically for that reason.

I worried for years that my strong spatial abilities and my critical thinking skills meant I wasn't really trans (that it was maybe caused more by my effed up family situations than by any difference in brain morphology). However it was always clear that the structure differences between m, f brains were made in utero and not affected by hormones after I think the third trimester.

What I learned since has been that it's not so much that skills are different as that "normal" female brains process some information on both sides of the brain unlike males who divide e.g. spatial abilities on one side and language on another. Much of this was worked out in research prior to the '00s using behavioral testing, more recently the work I've seen used fmri imaging to demonstrate specific differences in structure.

I've self-tested some of these things, intentionally never reading the details of research on which sides of the male brain specialized in language and spatial processing. What I found was that doing a high-skilled task (I chose a different and very high dexterity glass blowing technique) and  language tests showed no difference in ability with my left, right eyes blinded respectively. Obviously not a well controlled test but it was a really nice confirmation for my lifelong feeling that I don't fit in this world as male. (To this day, I couldn't tell you which side of the brain does what.)

More to the point of your questions, when I started HRT I immediately (ok within a week) noted I became more emotional -- and mind you I was already 2-3 σ more emotive compared to men all my life. The other immediate difference was I simply felt more calm. I couldn't really quantify the latter until I tried going off of estrogen for a month last year. Lisa jokes above with her /sarcasm but suddenly I was unable to find my keys. I'd spent 20 years working on mindfulness and apparently all I ever really needed was estrogen. When I took estrogen away difficult habits of mind that I'd not really realized were gone flooded back. What I feel about that today is I'd spent all of those years learning to accommodate an unquiet mind - which I don't regret, those skis are still really helpful in times of stress.

I can't relate to sex-specific things causing problems before, I was never given to feeling horny during the day and if anything I'm far more likely to strong sexual feeling creeping up on me during the day now that I'm post-op. I think this is more about body - I'm not dissociating from the masculine bits that are now gone, I feel far more present in my body all the time now.

I worried about much the same thing before starting HRT, but in the end I couldn't not start HRT so it didn't really matter.

My work requires a high level of thinking ability, and I can't say I noticed any difference except that its easier to work when I'm not depressed. There's a possibility that because I'm older I don't rely on raw ability so much anymore, and there's a lot of ingrained knowledge that helps.

I've heard once or twice that some people's interests change, so its not that they can't do something, but that they no longer want to.

I have wondered the same question. I have been on estrogen for just under three months now and I have noticed a few differences. For context, I am a very high IQ person with multiple engineering, technical and business advanced degrees. Historically I have been very problem-solution, A to B, if-else-then focused. I have found that while my knowledge has not changed nor my ability to draw on it, the way I get from A to B has changed. It is really hard to describe other than to say logic is no longer a straight line where it once was. Hopefully that makes sense? There is also a new emotional aspect, however my ability to distance myself while making complex abstract decisions remains unchanged.

I received some really great responses from people who really understood my question and had the experience and insight to give real answers. What more could I ask for? Thank you so much!

These answers actually give me some hope in ways I didn't expect. To be completely honest, I don't actually enjoy anything in my life. And the only reason I chose my current field of study is because the career is lucrative and in-demand (and I will need the money for all the trans healthcare and surgeries I anticipate needing). Not because I felt any passion for the subject. I know that's a terrible thing to do in life, but there was nothing else cared about anyway. I'm hoping all that will change when I get on the correct hormones for my brain, and maybe even become interested in what I'm doing, which will undoubtedly improve my performance. While I may not have any positive changes like these, it certainly does not sound as if I will have negative changes.