To answer your questions:

What do you guys have for a doc/therapist?
I have a female therapist (actually, most all of my therapists have been female, and I prefer it that way... the ones I have really clicked with are in the GLBT community as well.)

Are Men psych/therapist more appropriate? because of the gender?
I'm not sure if it's completely relevant. As long as you are comfortable with the therapst/psychologist, that's what matters. From my experience, I had a psychiatrist for awhile.. he was male.. and we didn't get along very well. Though, I think that more has to do with his personality than his gender.

I'm not trying to sound sexist so I do apologize for you women out there.
I'm sure they understand, and won't be offended =]

I agree that I don't think it really matters the gender of the therapist but theirs/yours mindset is. There are some male therapist as well as people that are awesome and then there are some that are just not so much...also the same when you flip the coin. It all has to do with a matter of what you're more comfortable with too. If you're not comfortable with a man, then it won't really matter how amazing a therapist he is, you will never get the treatment that you need because you will be holding back a bit due to the discomfort. I generally get along better with women in relationship/emotional type things and men for social settings. ie. When with a woman I can open up more and speak how I 'feel' but with a man I can't so much. When with men it's easier for me to be able to just relax and be a goofball and hang out. Just shoot the Sh*t so to speak. So, it has  a lot to do with your own limitations.

My doc is a female.  I have been to many therapists over the years and both times that I went to a male therapist I just felt like I didn't connect with him.  I don't necessarily know if it was because of his gender but I have always had a better connection with female therapists.  I wasn't sure what to do when I was looking for a gender therapist, but I didn't have much of an option since they are all female in my area.  My therapist actually mostly works with MTF patients and I am one of her few FTM patients, but we had a real connection from the very beginning.

I only went to therapy because it was necessary to get testosterone, and it really p*ssed me off being obliged to disclose myself with sometimes very private or even intimate topics. We had only two gender therapists in my region, and one of them was known not to get along with FTMs. So I picked the other, and it happened to be a male who was a nice guy, but with old school convictions (he requested 1 year RLT everywhere before getting hormones - I hated lying to him all the time as I had a horrible passing due to my physical shape no matter what I tried, and requesting everyone, even at work, to call me by my male name as long as I looked female seemed totally silly to me). Otherwise, this guy was okay.

Him being male was fine with me, a female gender therapist might make me worry whether she gets along with me talking all the time that I want to get rid of the female body parts I have. Because if I were a female gender therapist and had to deal with FTM clients I would probably get horrible nightmares with my female parts being cut away etc.

I have a male psychiatrist, male GP and a male therapist.  I've always felt most comfortable with male practitioners. I feel like female doctors try to project their own experiences onto me and gender me as female.  It's funny, my mum always insisted I only go to female doctors as a kid (because of course male doctors cannot be trusted!) and the one time I got the male doc by accident, I liked him heaps and never went back. 

I also had a bad experience with the female gp when my main doc wasn't there.  I had mono, and she felt the glands in my neck and then just went right ahead and stuck her hand down my pants to check some glands that were supposedly there. Then she questioned me really intensley about the cuts on my arms (this is when I was a teen) and made me feel like crap.

I feel very very lucky with my therapist because he is a fellow ftm and is super awesome and has helped me heaps with my non-trans related problems, as well as trans stuff.

My pdoc I really like especially because he's obsessed with Tin Tin and has Tin Tin stuff all over his office, including a ceramic bust of Tin Tin.  And I really like my GP because he was a male doctor with a bright pink iMac! I consider them all great male role models for me.

As I'm transitioning on the NHS (in the UK) I don't get any choice, I just have to accept the ones they send me to. My local one is male, and the one I'll be seeing at Charing Cross is also male. My GP is female.

F but who cares. I did not choose based on gender but on availability and cost.

Well, my counselor is inter-sexed my psychologist is a male (very gay), my doctor is this awesome impressive giant black guy with the whitest teeth (my daughter just loves him), and my endo is a friendly grandpa of a dude.

I have a straight male therapist who is a personality theorist; he's very spiritual. I am his second trans client. He is currently publishing a series of 3 books and the basis of gender is covered in it. My psychiatrist is also male and he knows very little on transgender issues.

Been to two therapists, both female (one trans-specialist and one not.) The other trans specialist is female too. Every therapist I've found in my area that was even remotely an option was female.

Don't think it matters, not unless you're uncomfortable with a gender. Then don't go with people you're uncomfortable with.

My gender therapist is a female and I wouldn't change it for the world. In my experience, convincing men that such a thing as an FtM exists is super difficult. Personally I am absolutely positive on where I stand with my gender and what I want to do about it. I am not in the mood for a skeptical male doctor to pester me with his doubts about my maleness. Female therapists are easier for me to talk to and (besides being the only thing available) would be my choice regardless.

Quote from: JesseA on August 24, 2010, 02:11:14 PM
My gender therapist is a female and I wouldn't change it for the world. In my experience, convincing men that such a thing as an FtM exists is super difficult.

This is interesting. I haven't seen this particular pattern. Except maybe with my friends' mothers...and they usually come around eventually! (Come to think of it, the only friend of mine who questioned my need to transition is a woman. But that's only one person.)

Quote from: Arch on August 24, 2010, 07:20:59 PM
This is interesting. I haven't seen this particular pattern. Except maybe with my friends' mothers...and they usually come around eventually! (Come to think of it, the only friend of mine who questioned my need to transition is a woman. But that's only one person.)

At my (mostly FTM) monthly trans meeting, I was told by everyone that when you tell men about FTMs it's usually met with a sort of "welcome to the club" attitude and women usually have problems with FTMs. This seems to be true for me too.

We doubtless all average out in the end. To what, I have no idea!

Hah, doubtless. When it comes to everything it seems.

Quote from: JesseA on August 24, 2010, 08:48:37 PM
Hah, doubtless. When it comes to everything it seems.

This is the most profound statement I've read all day. Maybe all week.

Or maybe it's so shallow and obvious that it only LOOKS profound.

hahahaha, Id go for the latter if I were you

Most of my psychiatrists have been male, including my current one, although the best psychiatrist I had was a female. As for regular therapists, two females and one male. Gender really isn't a factor in picking, as long as they can do their job it doesn't matter.

Quote from: Silver on August 24, 2010, 07:38:13 PMAt my (mostly FTM) monthly trans meeting, I was told by everyone that when you tell men about FTMs it's usually met with a sort of "welcome to the club" attitude and women usually have problems with FTMs. This seems to be true for me too.

I agree with this overall, even though it can depend on each person and they're relationship with you. I've heard before that some women think you are "betraying" them by "leaving the team". They fail to realize we were never part of their team anyway.

I do agree that I get the "welcome to the club" attitude from the male members of my family.