APA DSM-5 website -essesentially if a therapist wants to call you a sissy and terminate
any further treatment you are diagnosed with "Tranvestite Fetish" or "Tranvestic Disorder"
I suppose the anology might be a doctor diagnosing someone as a "fat slob" and therefore
not having to treat his obesity. I have specific recent experience with this, and I really
felt a need to comment on it. It is really horrible, and I know you probably don't want
to spend several hours writing and revising a comment, but there is a petition to remove
this "Tranvetic Disorder" from the DSM-5, and that just takes a minute:
Sign the Petition to Remove Transvestic Disorder from the DSM-5,
sponsored by the International Foundation for Gender Education.
http://dsm.ifge.org/petition/
The petition is a separate site from the site where you would leave comments
on the APA DSM-5. They do accept public comments.
The comment period is through June 15th and after I registered
at the site I had to download and run "Firefox" in order to be able to type in the text box.
If you do want to actually leave a comment (and please do!) here's the link:
http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevision/Pages/proposedrevision.aspx?ri
here is the comment I wrote this morning (I am redacting my name on this site,
but I used it ) - it's the best I could write, and it is factual:
This year I sought out therapy from a Gender Therapist, and in the
fourth session was diagnosed as having a Transvestite Fetish.
(I can provide the name and address of this Minneapolis, MN
therapist if it matters, but I want to discuss the classification
and it's harmful use in real life therapy).
While it is an essential aspect of my fetish that I would be having
a relationship with a man, my therapist made a point of separating
Sexual Orientation from Gender Identification, and as such wouldn't
make any connection in my case between my sexual desires for a
relationship with a man, and my fantasy that wearing female clothes
and being accepted as a woman while engaged in this relationship
would be pleasurable.
At the time I was diagnosed, I told her that the diagnosis was
bizarre, in part because I had not for several decades
engaged in cross dressing, mainly because I felt that due
to my weight and physical appearance that I did not look like a woman,
wouldn't be successful in attracting a man that way, and would
not derive any satisfaction from a dress, if I did not look
attractive in it (I frequently wore female clothes from age 6 or
8 or so until I was 18 and moved into a college dorm, I
did engage in some homosexual sex in college, and found it
pleasant but superficial, and went "into the closet" for
many years, I've never had any significant interest in a
heterosexual encounter).
After hearing the diagnosis, and disputing it, I left the
session and latter that day experienced a
very significant anxiety attack (I had also
experienced a very significant anxiety attack after the third
session, and discussed this in the fourth session, prior to
her making her Transvestite Fetish diagnosis).
I decided that since these sessions were making me
physically sick I could no longer continue them,
and that I needed to take the matter into my own
hands. I contacted her by email, and she readily
agreed to the termination of therapy.
It is my genuine belief that the therapist
made this diagnosis with the intent that I would
act in this way. I was paying for my sessions "out of
pocket" and it was an enormous financial strain to me.
I felt that the sessions especially the third and fourth
had become extremely awkward and uncomfortable.
I can understand how as a person, the therapist was dreading
a fifth session or more session past that and would want
to make a diagnosis just to get rid of the "sissy",
but I now had to face the reality that my condition
was a transvestite fetish (which I view as a perversion)
and that there was literally nothing therapy could do
to help, that there was no where to turn to, and I was
feeling the situation was utterly hopeless (I am deliberately
wording it this way to characterize a feeling and the
necessity in this situation to formulate a plan to get
one self out of a dire situation, with recourse only
to oneself, without anyone to turn to).
I can not honestly see how a Gender Therapist being aware
of how I'd presented my situation would not realize that
thoughts of suicide would be a logical consequence of
the diagnosis.
I have spent several months fighting the depression resulting
from the gender therapy sessions, so it has been difficult
to accept and act on the need for therapy, and to find another
therapist (but not a gender therapist - I have an extremely
negative view of the legitimacy of gender therapy now). In therapy
yesterday I did mention that I wanted to comment on this specific
issue on this site, using my real name. This is difficult for me,
but I was really harmed by this diagnosis. Transvestite Disorder isn't a
serious classification. It's a way for a therapist to get
rid of patients they can't or don't want to help.
This is morally wrong. If you are a therapist, and you
can't find enough compassion to help, tell
them you can't help and find another therapist who can.
But don't use this "sissy" classification to get rid of
them and let them fend for themselves. That is just wrong.
(Name removed from Transformative-Honeymoons post)
(city removed), MN
well anyways, at least I wrote something
captions next time, OK?
Take Care,
Samantha
Posted and signed the petition! Even made a post about it on my own blog.
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