Trans-FUCKING-everything

[Violet]

By the way, I probably should have said this in my first reply. If transsexualism isn't viewed as a 'disorder' but rather a 'mental condition', then perhaps it's wrong to view BIID as a disorder rather than a mental condition. The striking similarities (feeling as though one is trapped in the wrong body, and needing physical change to feel at peace with one's body) suggest to me the disease-model of psychiatry is often flawed.

Also, I should note the lady on Springer did not say she had BIID, and I don't want to presume to know what condition she might have, I just wanted to point out how rude it is to label someone as "wacky" or "dumb". She is also a transsexual which suggests to me that BIID and transsexualism may have quite a lot in common with each other and can coexist in the one patient, although as I mentioned I'm not suggesting to know what condition the Springer lady actually has. Just pointing out the similarities to the blind lady with BIID - they both say they felt as if they needed physical change in the bodies from when they were children - and they both went to extreme lengths to achieve it - and they are both much happier with their bodies following the change.

I wouldn't call them 'strikingly similar'.

I'd call them nearly-fucking-identical. They're different only because of the subject matter of the discomfort and dysphoria.

And, just like not every transgendered person needs to "go all the way" (as it were..) to be happy... I reckon plenty of people with BIIID can live fulfilling lives without "going all the way". Not all of them. Perhaps not even most of them. Perhaps even only a few of them... but some of them, for sure.

I think that treatment for both conditions needs to reflect that there is a spectrum on this kind of thing... to which some people are pretty low key, and fewer/less invasive modifications (including behavioral)/medications are required, and some people are well beyond the severe end of that sliding spectrum. It's just something of a nuanced approach that needs to be kept in mind (and I'm not saying that it isn't necessarily: i'm not a psychologist, and I don't speak for every psychologist, or to every psychologist).