Why is gender dysphoria not the same as Dissociative identity disorder?

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[–]Alienhunter糞大名 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

A good question but I think it's because gender dysphoria isn't so much a case of having two separate identities, it's a case of believing your sex is wrong and therefore your alternate sexed identity is the only true one. I think there's currently several different complexes that currently get lumped under the transgender umbrella because ostensibly they result in the same outward symptoms.

For MTF

One is simply gay men who for whatever reason prefer to think of themselves as women, likely due to a lack of self acceptance or an inability to reconcile external societal pressures.

One is a sexual fetish that develops where the man gains sexual pleasure for the thought of themselves as a woman. It eventually progresses to the point where they decide to live their fetish full time. It's a mix of exhibituonism and narcissism.

Those are the main causes, alternatively there may be other causes that relate to trans identification such as wild hormonal imbalances or psychological trauma.

For FTM I think it's initial cause of not accepting that one is gay plays true for a lot of it. But I also think that alternative causes like a good amount of internalized misogynist attitudes contribute to many. The social contagion theory likely plays into that.

There is also body dismorphia which needs to be discussed. I think a lot of women otherwise develop that in response to their breasts growing during puberty and that contributes to trans identification today. I think it's a fairly normal occurrence to suffer from some kind of body dismorphia during puberty for both sexes but it isn't necessarily a sign of transsexual identification unless it persists well into someone's adulthood which is why the social contagion theory should be taken seriously. Time will tell if it is correct if desistance and detransition numbers continue to increase.

[–]M1GarandDad 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Is there a documented category of "suicidal trans kids" who use transition as a symbolic death and rebirth?

I have no evidence, but given that virtually all trannies have other mental heath issues, it wouldn't surprise me if a significant number of them had suicidal thoughts before they identified as trans, like they desperately wanted to be anyone but themselves before they decided their "true self" was a boy trapped in a girl's body or vice versa.

This might be why the term "deadnaming" specifically invokes death, and why the trans pride flag intentionally uses colors associated with babies.

The usual tranny response is to blame those prior mental health issues on "transphobia", but how could they have been persecuted before anyone had any idea they were trans including themselves?

[–]Alienhunter糞大名 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'd argue hating oneself is part of the disphoria. In fact it may be difficult to say one suffers from disphoria without feelings of depression and a string overwhelming desire to be someone else.

It's perfectly normal for people to be unsatisfied with parts of their body but it often doesn't become an all encompassing obsession that effects someone's identity. When it does you get things like plastic surgery addictions. I think self acceptance is the core underlying problem that once resolved tends to eliminate most of the other issues.