What is Gender Crisis and What's the Most Common Age it Happens at?
Gender crisis is different from being aware of dysphoria—Dr. Z explains what it is and the two age groups who experience it.
Not gender crisis: You've been aware of gender incongruency since young age or puberty. You've been carrying dysphoria throughout your life, thinking about it, cognitively aware you don't resonate with your gender assigned at birth. You may not have been ready to transition, but you've definitely been aware.
Gender crisis: You repressed feelings due to circumstances and environment. The repression kept a tight lid on your gender identity for a long time. You've been living with some sense that something's not right, things don't feel aligned, but you can't name it. Gender dysphoria isn't even in your vocabulary yet. Then suddenly the defense mechanisms holding repression in place go off—like a switch—and you wake up one day with deep awareness you're struggling with gender incongruency. You look back at childhood and see historical signposts indicating issues were there all along.
Watch to find out why two age groups experience this crisis: ages 30-40 (deeper introspection period asking "who am I?") and ages 55+ (existential wandering about regrets and what to do with remaining lifetime), and why this isn't middle-aged crisis.
