Hi all,

I do not mean to offend anyone with this post - I'm just genuinely curious and would like to learn :) If SRS and such are the best treatment options for gender dysophia, I'm all for them, but I've always wondered why a trans person cannot learn to accept the body they're born into?

Let me give some examples from my own life, which has certainly had its share of difficulties (addiction, chronic tinnitus, enormous family dysfunction, OCD, etc). I have dealt with many, many situations in my life that absolutely drove me up to the wall and to bottles/pills/powders for years. I tried endlessly to change other people, to force myself to change, etc and it was futile.

I learned over time to accept things as they were and find what I could do, given the circumstances. Meditation and mindfulness practice has been absolutely irreplaceable in this process. There were so many things I simply could not tolerate until I learned this (as well as engaging in therapy work, starting Zoloft, and other work).

Recently, I developed chronic tinnitus, which for those of you who don't know is constant ringing in your ears. I don't hear it all the time but it really gets me at night / in quiet areas. This also drove me insane at first, until I really learned to just let it be. It still bothers me at times, though I learned that by habituating to it and accepting it it wouldn't impose the same burden in my life.

So basically my question is, why isn't someone who is gender dysphoric able to accept the parameters of their body and function within it? I'm not saying that I was able to accept things so they should - I have no frame of reference for gender dysphoria so I imagine it could be quite different than anything I've experienced. On the other hand, I do wonder if perhaps some sort of mindfulness based therapy could be helpful to someone who wishes to transition to another gender.

I'll admit, although I've learned to "accept" having tinnitus (for example), if there were a surgical cure for it (or even a reduction) you bet I'd be signing up for it. Possibly that's what it'd be like to be trans - if nothing could be done, I'll keep my body as is and try to accept it - but if surgery can help I'll do that instead.

Anyway, enlighten me! Thanks!