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Mental health & recovery with sam dylan finch

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Tag: transgender

Body Positive, Mental Health

Dear Body: A peace treaty with my queer, trans, and recovering body.

May 2, 2019May 2, 2019by Sam Dylan Finch10 Comments on Dear Body: A peace treaty with my queer, trans, and recovering body.
Dear Body: A peace treaty with my queer, trans, and recovering body.

I’m breathless now, looking back at all the ways you would not back down from survival.

LGBTQ, LGBTQIA, transgender

Denying the existence of transgender and nonbinary people is not ‘scientific.’

December 24, 2018December 24, 2018by Sam Dylan Finch8 Comments on Denying the existence of transgender and nonbinary people is not ‘scientific.’

"Human beings are not just the sum of their biology."

LGBTQ, LGBTQIA, Mental Health, transgender

When they misgendered you at your memorial.

October 15, 2018October 16, 2018by Sam Dylan Finch98 Comments on When they misgendered you at your memorial.
When they misgendered you at your memorial.

"You never lived to see the day when your life didn’t require a disclaimer — instead, your death now required one, too."

LGBTQ, LGBTQIA, Mental Health, transgender

My parents and I survived my ‘Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria.’ This is our story.

September 13, 2018September 13, 2018by Sam Dylan Finch12 Comments on My parents and I survived my ‘Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria.’ This is our story.
My parents and I survived my ‘Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria.’ This is our story.

I wish I had the Perfect Transgender Narrative™ to convince you of my validity. But I don’t.

LGBTQ, Mental Health, transgender

Yes, I have a ‘mental disorder.’ But it’s not being transgender.

July 20, 2018by Sam Dylan Finch7 Comments on Yes, I have a ‘mental disorder.’ But it’s not being transgender.
Yes, I have a ‘mental disorder.’ But it’s not being transgender.

Many of the people who still insist that being transgender is a 'disorder' don’t actually care about our mental health.

LGBTQ, transgender

This is what I wish people who identify as ‘truscum’ would try to understand.

July 14, 2018July 14, 2018by Sam Dylan Finch21 Comments on This is what I wish people who identify as ‘truscum’ would try to understand.
This is what I wish people who identify as ‘truscum’ would try to understand.

When you create a definition of transgender that relies on gatekeeping, the door is wide open for friendly fire.

Mental Health, transgender

Transgender people shouldn’t have to lie about their mental health. But many do.

June 23, 2018by Sam Dylan Finch6 Comments on Transgender people shouldn’t have to lie about their mental health. But many do.
Transgender people shouldn’t have to lie about their mental health. But many do.

"I am absolutely terrified that my mental health status will be used against me."

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Sam Dylan Finch

Sam. Queer writer, mental health advocate, oversharer. OCD/ADHD. Powered by sparkle emojis, antidepressants, and testosterone. ✨ He/him. More?

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Sometimes it’s hard to articulate what we really mean. I’m practicing.
I’m learning to see myself the way that the people who love me do. What do others see in you that you want to believe for yourself? 🌸
Today I start treatment. I’ll be taking these words with me. 🌱
Hello from a couple queers in an Airbnb as I prepare to usher in my 28th year of life! If these glowing faces are any indication, 28 is going to be glorious. ✨
REAL TALK: If you are transgender and you have an eating disorder, please don’t assume that a medical transition will “cure” your eating disorder. This is a dangerous and untrue assumption, made by trans advocates and clinicians alike. But eating disorders are complex illnesses, and while transition may provide some reprieve from body image struggles and dysphoria, it is not safe to assume you are in the clear. 🍃 I see this especially among trans men with eating disorders. They assume that transitioning will resolve their eating disorder, but MANY simply re-emerge as orthorexia, with exercise as a particular fixation to build muscle and attain a more “masculine” appearance. Yet they publicly tell their followers that transition cured their ED, while still thoroughly entrenched in it! 🍃 As a trans person with anorexia, my transition was critical for relieving my gender dysphoria. However, my anorexia only emerged more intensely, as fat redistribution from testosterone reignited my restriction. The changes that happened during my transition motivated me to continue with disordered behaviors so I could further “degender” my body through thinness. 🍃 I believe it was @chairbreaker that I first heard discussing how fatphobia so often impacts how we gender fat bodies versus thin bodies. Fat men, for example, are feminized by the thin gaze, and fat women who don’t perform femininity in deliberate ways are often stripped of their femininity. 🍃 I believe this insidious form of fatphobia is why thinness can be experienced as “gender affirming” for many trans people, fueling disordered behaviors even AFTER we’ve medically transitioned. And this is why clinicians that work with trans people need to be MORE vigilant — not less! — when trans clients are pursuing medical transition. Eating disorders morph overtime (in cis and trans folks alike!), and even if the presentation of someone’s ED changes, that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. 🍃 Are there trans people for whom medical transition greatly diminished certain mental health issues? Absolutely. But we cannot assume that transition is a proper treatment for an ED — that is unproven and far too unsafe to assume. Period.
If all goes as planned, I start intensive treatment for my eating disorder next week. I feel a lot of different emotions, but among them is a very fierce determination to take my life back. In part for myself, which is more than reason enough — but in part because I’ve never felt more passionately about helping people reclaim their own bodies, too. 🌱 My recovery is a battle not just for my own life, but for the world I want to build with all of you. One in which trust in our bodies and compassion for ourselves is as natural and inherent a process as breathing. One in which marginalized bodies can know true safety and traumatized spirits can know true security. These are the things that I fight for daily, and what keeps me in motion as I look to this next chapter. 🌱 I’ve been caught in a whirlwind of intense emotion — probably because when we nourish ourselves, we aren’t so emotionally numbed out... go figure! But with each wave, I’m finding new reasons to be grateful that I’m still here, and able to experience the fullness of my life and strength of my heart. None of this is easy, but I’m okay with that, because I trust that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be and ready for what’s to come.

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