#for relating to symptoms of mental illness

[confusedlamp]

I don't disagree with the general point and instruction of looking critically at studies and surveys that claim higher rates of mental illness or neurodiversity amongst trans people. Who is in contact with psychiatrists absolutely throws a wrench into trends of mental illness diagnosis.

However, I would encourage you to dig into the details of each study. Look into what exactly was measured and what is actually being claimed. A well designed study will try to account for some of the problems you have pointed out. Good papers will also acknowledge what they couldn't account for.

Things I think about under the cut, if you want to know what I mean.

How did they define mental illness? Did they look at formal diagnosises? Did they simply ask, "Have you ever been diagnosed with [x]?" Or did they evaluate participants for symptoms of mental illness? If they looked at symptoms, what questions were used?***

What did the study compare rates of mental illness in trans people to? Was it the rates in the general population according to another study (and was that study conducted similarly, is it comparable)? Or did they also give cis people the same evaluation? If so, are they comparing cis and trans people who have similar characteristics (ethnicity, socioeconomic class, geographic location, age, etc)? Is it a comparison of the same trans people over time?

Furthermore, how did they find participants? Were ads placed at locations that may add confounding factors or limit the applicability to the overall population? Was it a survey given out at a common location (high schools, for example)?

What exactly is being claimed (by the scientists or by anyone citing the study)? Are they claiming they know *the* cause of the trend? Or just a possible contributing factor? Proving a causal mechanism is very hard and isn't always possible, (conducting a randomized controlled double blind study doesn't really work here). Because of that uncertainty, a lot of studies will phrase it like "The results suggest that [X] may be a factor in [Y]."

Or are they just claiming a trend? Is it for all trans people or only a subset? Sometimes the subset of trans people the trend applies to can hint at causes or possible solutions. For example, a study could find that mental illness symptoms are only higher in trans people without access to transition related health care.

***I want to acknowledge that any survey can be screwed up due to lying. If, for example, older people are less likely to admit to having various depression symptoms that they do have, it could screw up any comparison you were doing looking at depression across age groups. Confidential written surveys (as opposed to verbal questions from an interviewer) can help minimize embarrassment, but it doesn't fix the problem. The best thing would be some sort of test for a mental illness, but that doesn't really exist, as far as I know. We just have to go off what people tell us.

*****Complete side note: I am not sure where you are from, or even if you meant it in the way I am reading it, but in the US a psychiatrist isn't required by law for surgery or HRT. Some doctors and surgeons will still require a psychiatrist's approval and it is sometimes needed to get coverage from health insurance. However, some clinics operate off informed consent. The doctor evaluates you and your health, like they would for going on any other non-pscyh med, talks to you about risks/ benefits, and then you can take the medication. I get my HRT from Planned Parenthood this way.

something that should be taken with a grain of salt are the statistics talking about the high rates of mental illness + neurodivergence among trans people (ocd, bpd, adhd, autism, etc)

I see both sides of the political spectrum taking these studies at face value - conservatives say we're broken, and trans people try to come up with reasons why for example autism + gender dysphoria makes sense and why one of them feeds into another

at the end of the day you have to remember that we're the one category of people on this planet who are legally required to go see a psychiatrist in order to receive non-psychiatric medication and surgeries.

more trans people are in therapy by law than any other demographic of people, and as a result, this captures more comorbidities.

if I had to look at my own family & rates of mental illness?

mom, dad, 2 maternal aunts, maternal grandmother, paternal grandmother, sister, sibling, and me all have OCD.

7/9 of them are cishet, never been to therapy, never diagnosed. 2/9 are trans, required therapy for hormone treatment, and were diagnosed.

you don't have to do any math to just see that the resulting statistics end up intensely skewed.

and we can think back to how autism was virtually never diagnosed more than 50 years ago - ruling out any grandparents being included in statistics - and even my parents' generation (they're in their 60s now) wouldn't have been included either.

I don't think it's to anyone's benefit to accept these studies uncritically. a lot of these things are hereditary and far more prevalent in the overall population than people realize

[marypsue]

If you're going to reblog my (admittedly very ADHD) post about, to borrow someone else's excellent summation, bees in the brain, to say 'OP check your medications', have you considered:

not doing that

[khattikeri]

by and large a lot of discourse can boil down to the fact that many of you simply don't like that other people who mildly annoy or inconvenience you exist in public.

[creeps-and-pasta]

I never rly understood why people read Toby chewing his skin as cannibalism when it is clearly just like. a complusion similar to hair pulling or nail biting.

people can headcannon whatever they want but it's such a wild conclusion to come to lmao

[vixensofdeath]

relapsing <<<

[thebpdcrybaby]

I'm trying so hard to not escalate my cutting to going back to box cutters. It really is dangerous and makes very very bad scars and I bleed so much. But I can't stop thinking about it. I had made an Amazon order but cancelled it. I've just been using a pencil sharpener blade but that's just not good enough, I feel like I need to really harm myself. My agoraphobia and anxiety is so bad that I can't live normal at all. And my FP moving away just made me so much worse.

"I tried to save myself but myself keeps slipping away."

[snortoborto]

No way (THIS IS A HOLDEN CAULFIELD LOVE ACCOUNT!!!)

This is a Holden Caulfield hate account

[rowlfthedog]

Watching Muppets From Space I will NOT apologize for the person I am about to become for the next hour

[iksydk]

capitalistic estrangement from the self is causing more people to self-report as autistic and borderline and with dissociative identity disorder because it causes a disturbance in the formation of self and therefore a disturbance in ability to operate in the social sphere. which can be interpreted as a fundamental disturbance because the estrangement has become fundamental to how the society they live in functions.

[twinknote]

every day i get closer to thinking about considering possibly Maybe having bpd

[edge-oftheworld]

if your fave says that someone makes them happy btw. the least you can do is believe them. if they say that they feel safe and a bit calmer and they’re getting a chance to heal. you gotta respect that. even if you have your own concerns and reasons not to be happy about it, in the end it’s their well-being and they have a right to live and to tell their own story however they choose. and if you refuse to believe basic evidence that’s right in front of you, you don’t deserve to scrutinise their life or who they have in it.

[daz4i]

asagiri. hi. hello. how's it going. I'm placing my hands on your shoulders. hey man what's up. listen there's this thing i wanna talk to you about, are you free? great, ok so hear me out. you remember that one character- no, not bram, the other- yeah the clown. remember him? you know, it's been a while since we last saw him. what's uuuh what's up with that? where is he? i miss the little guy, you know? asagiri. hey. look at me. look me in the eyes, asagiri. what do you say about putting him in the next chapter? hmm? sounds like a good idea, isn't it? squeezing your shoulders now. hey man. bring me my fucking clown back. i need him. look me in the eye. do you see the desperation? the longing? this is what being apart from my special little guy does to me, asagiri. please, you have to bring him back. i haven't eaten in days, waiting for him to return. i am going to die. you don't want me to die, do you? huh? oh really now? great, that's great. so you'll put him in the next chapter, yeah? awesome. thanks man. glad we had that talk. take care

[kats-lagoon]

WELCOME

TO

THE GREATEST

GUESSING

GAME

EVER!!!!!!

ON TODAY’S QUESTION…

Is this chronic pain real or is it part of a flashback????!!!!!

Place your bets folks!!!!

[louthingg]

i was at school for 3 days this week and i’ve already heard the terms “intrusive thoughts” “delulu” and “bedrotting” more times than i can count. can you guys stop fucking saying shit like this when you don’t know what you’re talking about.

[minty-bubblegum]

[mad-hunts]

i find it kind of interesting how jack's costume is actually partially modeled after a jester ( his mask has the typical 'horns' that extend out of a jester's cap, except they don't have bells on them most of the time because that would just be VERY inconvenient for him as a thief and they aren't really all that big at all. they just barely reach the crown of his head and then tilt downwards before the ends folds in on themselves. it's basically something that is not too flashy, but also kind of let's him express himself ) and his whole costume just in general exudes the air of a ' performer. ' the fact that he does wear a leotard as part of his outfit while on 'missions' just emphasizes this. though, it does serve a practical purpose as well, of course -- and that is to allow him free range of movement since he is contortionist. so, i think the fact that he has consciously made an effort to make it a bit ' fun ' does say something about his character and i know i have mentioned this before, BUT i haven't quite touched upon this yet.

jack has saved people before that he knew barton would've wanted him to kill because they 'saw too much' or whatever the case may be. anddd i think that this is jack's way of trying to 'make up' for some of the bad thing's he's witnessed + done nothing about, as well as make up for the bad thing's he's done, though realistically -- it's probably going to take a LOT more than jack saving some people to completely ease his conscience and he can never really wipe his hands clean of what's been done. but ehhh, i think that jack treating it almost like it's some sort of ' twisted performance ' in a way is a form of escapism for him, as sad and also concerning as that might sound 😬 but yeahhh. that's likely enough rambling about my favorite mathis family member for now LOL