CROSS DRESSER SHOPPING, TIPS AND ADVICE

Have you ever seen a qualified, professional therapist to try to delve deeper into your cross dressing? On the other hand, are you thinking about doing just that? I have ”been there; done that” and I have a few thoughts to share with you.
My experience is that a therapist is generally very interested and very sympathetic. After all, he or she is a professional. However, a therapist is also is generally also fairly ignorant regarding cross dressing. I have been to two of them and I found myself acting in the role of educator. Unfortunately, they did not think to pay me or trade me for my time and efforts. It isn’t really surprising that my people were uninformed regarding dressing. I doubt that very men have walked into an office saying “Hi, I am cross dresser and let’s do some therapy.” So, do not be surprised if your doc is not an informed expert on your subject. After all, you are there to work with your unique situation and person and the larger world of education is not really the issue.
Another factor in this is your location. I have lived in small towns in the middle of the Arizona desert, more than 100 miles from the sophistication – and smog – of Phoenix. Small towns have their charms but easily finding a specialist is not one of them. If you look in a larger city, you should do better than I did.

Would I do it again? Sure. You see, at the time of my life when I put myself under treatment, I had talked with almost nobody about my dressing because I was much too shy and embarrassed. A therapist provided me with a safe place. That’s so important that I cannot overstate it. My point is that he gave me a chance to speak aloud about all that was on my mind for many years regarding gender and me. I was surprised by what I had stored up inside and the discovery itself was therapeutic. Could I have gotten the same release by talking to a friend? Perhaps, but I could leave the doc at his office and face the world knowing that none of my relationships had changed just because I spoke.
So, my advice regarding a therapist:
1) Expect to do some educating. You will be surprised by what you know when you hear yourself talk about yourself.
2) Try to work in a larger town if you live in a small one.
3) Do not rule out the value of sharing with a friend or lover; just remember that you will have changed the basis of that relationship forever.
Whatever you do, please talk to people about yourself.