GC for 15 years. Octopus hot dog lady is fed up.

submitted by Octopushotdog from self.Introductions

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[–]Sh--t 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I had debilitating body dysmorphia as a teen. At the time I was extremely suicidal over it and if I had the option to get surgery to look the way I wanted, I would have jumped at it. It would have been "life saving" in the same way that hormone therapy is considered life saving. I threatened and attempted suicide and was put in the psychiatric ward... which is what happens to most people who threaten suicide.

Would it have helped to get a tummy tuck and breast reduction at age 15? Who knows. Maybe. But in any case I had much, much deeper issues that needed to be addressed. And had I gained that weight back or still been uncomfortable with the way I looked post surgery, that suicidality would still be there.

It's not even a matter of opinion, but of ethics--putting kids in dangerous situations without proper assessment or giving them tools to cope. And yes, endless validation of all sorts of delusions. Validation is important, but it's the first step. Validation only therapy for someone with actual delusions would be mindblowingly harmful. At some point you have to move on to healing

[–]Sh--t 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

After having PTSD myself I do understand the sort of hell they are going through, but the validation culture seems to be set up to trap them in that hell and a cycle of rumination that reinforces existing fears.

Same with overidentifying with mental disorders... the more you immerse yourself in that stuff, the more you think about it, the more you worry about it, the more your brain thinks it's vital to survival, the more obsessive you become.