I realized recently that I've been having mild psychotic symptoms (minor visual disturbances, a delusion about people being able to hear my thoughts, some memory issues) for a few years. They don't affect my life much, and I don't see any benefit to seeing a medical professional, since I'm trans and a diagnosis might affect my access to surgery/hormones. However, I have a close relative with a psychotic illness (sorry if that's the wrong terminology, idk his exact diagnosis) and (sh anon 1/2)
(sh anon 2/2) because of that I'm worried my symptoms might get worse. Do you think this is likely? Is it ok for me to deal with this on my own? If it gets a lot worse I'll get help, but there's so much stigma around psychosis & I feel like that would be way worse than my current symptoms (please tag "sh anon" & also I'm worried my first message wasn't on anon, I sent it in a hurry, please copy/paste it or something if that's the case so that I'm still anonymous)
It can be really scary to get medical care when trans if you feel it might impact your ability to get treatment. Unfortunately, though, psychotic illnesses often get worse over time, and it is important to seek care. If you can, try to seek out a trans-friendly psych/therapist who will understand the situation. In most cases, you’ll need a psych to sign off on hormones anyway, and getting established with someone now could ease that process.
There are also informed consent clinics that will give hormones without a psych’s sign-off. These may be an easier way to access hormones if you have a diagnosis. Also take a look at the WPATH guidelines. If a treatment provider tries to deny you hormones against these guidelines, have them with you to show them the accepted practice.
Remember that you don’t need to tell anyone about your diagnosis if you don’t want to.
I really do think you should seek help for these psychotic symptoms, but I know that that choice is ultimately yours.
