Jump to content

Anyone with experience coming out to a therapist?


Recommended Posts

I've been in therapy for depression for two years now and I don't feel like I'm making much progress. I have not told the therapist about being ace due to shame. Sometimes I wonder if I would start to feel better if I could work through my feelings with a professional, but I'm terrified that she won't understand. Did anyone else come out to their therapist? Any tips?

Link to post
Share on other sites

I can't relate to this situation, but I would test the water with how your therapist's attitudes are towards the LGBT community in general and go from there. If necessary, you can cite this in the DSM V, the Bible for psychology:

 

 DSM-2.jpgDSM-1.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

@TopHatCat why would a therapist's attitude toward asexuality necessarily be related to their attitude toward LGBT? I can see that it could be, but why would it have to be? Plenty of people who oppose LGBT have no problem with asexuality--and plenty of LGB people DO have a problem with asexuality.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't want to hijack this thread, so I'll try to be concise. Asexuality is the missing part of the puzzle that paints the entire picture of human sexuality, thus anyone who can respect one part of this full picture should be able to respect another, otherwise their logic can easily be turned against them and fall apart. Obviously there is the potential that you would be discussing with such an inconsistent person, but a positive/open attitude towards a progressive understanding of sexuality should be a strong indicator that said person will not hold a heteronormative point of view. And this is arguably the most common type of dismissal that anyone outside of the scope of cis/heterosexual/heteroromantic faces because of how deeply it is ingrained in many societies.

 

I will not spend 3 pages accounting for every possible smaller scenario, and I do not have access to statistics that would indicate so strongly that LGBT-friendly vs Asexuality-unfriendly and vice versa are 40%-40% of attitudes and the remaining 20% are either unaware/respect both. Otherwise I would have brought it up. In recognition of the possibility that LGBT-friendliness didn't correlate strongly enough with asexuality-friendliness, that is why I mentioned the DSM V.

 

A more conclusive argument, any psychologist must respect what is in the most current DSM, as it is the standard used to diagnose mental illness. However, it is an easier progression in a conversation to bring up the LGBT community than to imply you looked yourself up in a diagnoses manual.

 

-I apologize for this incursion, utca

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, I'm not persuaded that LGBT people are always inclusive of asexuals, but you're right, let's not hijack this thread.

Link to post
Share on other sites
everywhere and nowhere

And I don't like these DSM quotes anyway because I don't believe there is such a thing as "hypoactive sexual desire disorder".

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...

ive told 7 different therapists in the last 5 years and let me just say that its really hard at any age. They didn't believe me or understand being asexual at all. i was told by one of the therapists to buy a strap on and have sex with a man that way so i was in control.... literally i was 16. the worst was probably when i was told "find a boy and just close your eyes and lay on your back he will know what to do" WTF i was 15 doesn't that sound like...'just let yourself get raped' 

I also told my GP because he thought i might be prego and i told him it was impossible anyway long story short he asked me "have you ever experienced clitoral arousal?' honestly i get so fed up with doctors because they just never seem to understand what its like to be Ace...its really not a big deal but they always make it out to be sometime i can either cure or change, if i said i was gay they wouldn't ask me to have sex with men...but i say im asexual and they tell me im to young or go have sex with someone, 

 

Good luck, hopefully you have a better experience than me. have some cake!!! :cake::cake::cake:

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...