I'm a psychology student, going to be getting my master's in Clinical Counseling and then getting WPATH certification so I can help transgender and questioning people. Ask me anything.

I agree the levels would certainly drop, and I do very strongly support the need for access to transition resources. I also believe the need for mental health care would still be higher than the general population, again see my response above. Treating a trans persons gender dysphoria is only one tiny part of their mental health. They still need to deal with self acceptance, questioning, coming out, transphobia, issues in passing and dysphoria that medical transition may not fix, many still deal with anxiety and depression, the list is pretty much endless. The trans experience is so much bigger than just medical transition, and it certainly doesn't fix everything. Even then the need for mental health care is HUGE in the general population. The vast majority of people could greatly benefit from mental health counseling at some point in their lives. I think the world would be a significantly better place if everyone got to see a counselor every week, even if that is extremely unrealistic. Almost 40% of the American population has seen a counselor before. More than 6 million americans are diagnosed or treated for depression or anxiety in some form every year. Even the general population has a huge need for mental health care.

I don't believe I am "gods gift to the trans community". First of all I don't believe in god. Secondly I'm a normal person, trying to get what is in the end the easiest degree to get in mental health care. I do believe that I am going into an extremely difficult feild with little personal benefit with the pure intention of doing the very best I can to help others. As a trans person I do think I can help people in a way others can't, and can hopefully help change the feild for the better. I hope I'm good at my job and that I help people, but that's not even a certainty yet.

/r/asktransgender Thread Parent