Anxiety, Depression, and Gender Dysphoria: Unraveling the Mental Health Connection.

Dr. Z explains how your personality type and predisposition affect not only the way you experience gender dysphoria but also how you decide or don't decide to move forward. This discussion focuses on personality predispositions, not personality disorders, and avoids pathologizing anyone.

Most human beings tend to have certain predispositions falling into one of three groups: anxiety-prone individuals who ruminate, catastrophize, overthink, and overanalyze, eventually reaching paralysis by analysis; depressive-prone individuals who look through a depressive lens, feeling hopeless, as if nothing will change, with no possibilities, wanting to throw in the towel and give up; and neurotic types who fall somewhere in the middle, dancing between the two depending on circumstances.

Anxiety-prone individuals experience gender dysphoria like running on a treadmill—constantly overthinking every step, making very little forward progress despite knowing where they want to go. Depressive-prone individuals convince themselves it's pointless, hopeless, too late, filled with regretful thought patterns like "I should have done it earlier" or "if only I did it when I was younger."

Watch to understand your personality predisposition and learn specific strategies for navigating gender dysphoria and transition based on your type.