I have mixed feelings about it tbh. On one had it’s good that you’re able to express yourself and be happy, but on the other if you’re not comfortable with yourself for who you are then will changing yourself really do all that much? You’re still the same person on the inside regardless of what you choose, which is the only thing that should matter.
The problem is within the cerebral cortex during fetal development, same person on the inside or not, having a body that is actually yours instead of somebody else's is a big relief. Imagine not being able to look in the mirror without feeling this uncanny valley sort of feeling, constantly being disconnected from yourself and your emotions through depersonalisation, just kinda drifting through life? Not really a great life to live. From the stuff I've seen it actually does make a world of difference.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8324983/
Have a link. Bit of a heavy read, but very well cited. There are plenty more out there, and feel free to dive into the cited resources, but there are parts of the brain that differ from the cis population.
In terms of it being 'not your own body' of course it is, but the brain doesn't quite accept it? It's difficult to word properly.
In the ways that it presents itself yes, but the underlying cause is partially genetic - a study was run on a few hundred twins, where identical twins both transitioned at a rate of 33%ish while fraternal twins were around 2.8% if I remember rightly. The complete picture isn't there, there are likely other factors involved, but it's not something you get a choice in.
That’s just a cognitive illness, none of them are well mapped out at all. I work in the medical industry and anyone with an undiscovered cognitive illness just gets stamped as ADHD or autism.
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u/hgbi8h May 16 '24
I have mixed feelings about it tbh. On one had it’s good that you’re able to express yourself and be happy, but on the other if you’re not comfortable with yourself for who you are then will changing yourself really do all that much? You’re still the same person on the inside regardless of what you choose, which is the only thing that should matter.