I think my therapist is transphobic 
(
self.TransSupport)
submitted 3 hours ago * by
kisstiffy
I've been seeing my therapist for 3 years. My wife recommended him to me after being his patient for 15 long years. Both of our daughters have been treated by him, one of which is gay. It's been a relatively good experience. He's complimented my intelligence and spoke of his respect for my character many times since our start, and we've always gotten along well.
He's known I'm trans mtf from the beginning and never outwardly expressed any kind of negative reaction. I've felt plateaued in therapy for a while. I've gotten in the rut of just venting about life while I'm there and not really doing any
work. I expressed this to him recently and explained that I wanted to change gears and focus on myself. I asked him what he knew about trans people and if he'd had any experience treating us for specific trans issues, and his response was basically,
not much, and
no. This was really shocking and highly disappointing to me, and I didn't know what to say or think. So I outwardly dismissed it and asked if he knew someone. But on the inside, I was appalled tbh.
I'll break it down to illustrate my point.
This man doesn't watch movies or TV. We've discussed it several times. "I don't really watch tv, I read a lot," was his response. So, he's a therapist. His entire profession is dedicated to helping traumatized people work thru their issues with compassion and knowledgeable feedback. I should also mention that he's joked several times about using the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) as a doorstop 



...funny.
So, all that being said, when he answered that he had virtually no knowledge of trans, well.. anything, I was quite taken aback. I'm thinking, ok.. a lot of people kill free time by watching TV, but you don't watch TV, you read. But you don't read the DSM or, as prevalent as trans topics have been for the last few years, you haven't tried to educate yourself about it? AT ALL??! Why??
The only reason that I could ever think of was that he doesn't want to learn about it. Because he thinks it's wrong.
That was our last visit. He referred me to another therapist who had experience and knowledge of trans individuals, and she was directly across the hall. Lauren has been a blessing. She's super nice, positive, and supportive. She's my girl.
I hate being so presumptuous about the other guy, but am I wrong? Am I possibly jumping to conclusions? Is there any possible reason you can think of that would make it ok for a therapist to be ignorant about trans matters?
My wife and I are discussing reporting him. I mean, I don't wanna go after the guy's career because of my experience with him, but I certainly don't think he should be in a position to potentially tell another trans person, especially a teen or child, some toxic, damaging bullshit or like with me, have nothing to offer but ignorance.
What's your take?
ty, ~kaylee


TLDR: My therapist of 3 years hasn't educated himself on trans issues or trans people at all. And I can't think of a reason for that besides transphobia and wilful ignorance.