I had two appointments with a psychiatric gatekeeper for top surgery last month, the second of which was the kind of experience that makes people say “yeah, I don’t do therapy”.
My own therapist, after speaking with the professional in question (who wanted to speak to my therapist as a routine background check) said that his initial feelings when I related the experience to him were confirmed; the gatekeeper actually knew almost nothing about gender transition. He added that he had sort of lost sight of the fact that many mental health professionals, when confronted with a gender-questioning or trans person, can’t stop looking for some source of trauma or disorder which would explain their transness. Because, of course, trans people have to be broken in some way, right? A lot of cisgender mental health people just can’t wrap their heads around the notion that someone can be transgender and otherwise psychologically sound (well, other than the stress of not conforming).
I’m not trans because I was sexually abused as a child. I’m not trans because I was bullied in school. I was always this way. I was born a different gender than the one arbitrarily assigned to me based on initial physical characteristics. It’s only recently that I found the language and social structures to explain to other people who I really am. I’m just as sane as I’ve always been. More, even, now that I’m at peace with myself.