[jellylake]

I have had depression pretty much since I started puberty. Some of this was because of gender dysphoria, but it was mostly kind of random. Recently I had an epiphany that I could be aromantic. It would make some sense, but at the same time, I don't know if that's right. I've had genuine romantic feelings once and that person left a lot of emotional scars (I can't hear their name without edging on panic), so my lack of "crushes" could be because of that. But also, at the time I loved that person, I was 11 and very hormonal, so it might not have been romance and just normal pubescent horniness. It doesn't even feel right to say "loved" because they were more like a best friend to me. I don't know this has been on my mind lately

[Skeezyks]

I don't know if you were looking for comments with regard to this... or just wanting to "put it out there", so to speak. Under any circumstances, I thought I would offer a reply. You mentioned having had some gender dysphoria which is something I can relate to. I'm an old man now. But gender identity dysphoria is something I struggled with my whole life. I don't think it is probably putting too much emphasis on it to say that it went a long way to making me crazy.

The one thing I can perhaps say is that, based on my own experience, concerns related to gender identity, romantic attraction (or lack thereof) & sexuality can be incredibly confusing & also (at least to my mind) surprisingly influential in terms of the impact they can have on a person's mental health as a whole. At least this has been my experience.

I obviously don't know whether or not you are aromantic. But I guess the one thing I would suggest is that your concerns with gender dysphoria as well as your interest in romance (or lack thereof) may be things it would be worthwhile exploring with the help of a therapist who has expertise in these specific areas. (Perhaps you're seeing someone already?) I imagine, in my own case, my life might have turned out quite different had those kinds of services been available when I was young.

By the way... there is a gender therapist, Dara Hoffman-Fox, who uploads videos onto her YouTube channel. She doesn't seem to be real active at this point. But there are many fine previous videos there. Here's a link to Dara's channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC75...wYHGQlc4w3-GGw

[jellylake]

Thanks Skeezyks, I really liked your comment. I'll be sure to her out!