UNDERSTANDING THAT EVERY NEGATIVE HAS A POSITIVE

Article appeared in Polare 37, June 2000

Sarah J. Rutherford teaches us the importance of accepting the balance of things. That unless we can accept how things are, we cannot appreciate or begin to understand and then learn or become better. Unless we accept, we will never be able to contemplate change ...

SHORT OUTLINE OF ISSUES THAT ARISE FOR TRANSGENDERED INDIVIDUALS

Article appeared in Polare 92, July 2012

Ami B. Kaplan, psychotherapist specialising in gender, presents this outline of mental health issues that arise for transgendered individuals, particularly those affecting one's emotional and psychological state ...

WITHIN THE FAMILY, SCHOOLYARD, WORKPLACE, THE MEDIA AND BY THOSE WE DEPEND UPON

Article appeared in Polare 87, April 2011

Bullying is endemic in all walks of life, but a civilised and egalitarian society attempts to eliminate it as much as humanly possible. However marginalised groups like Intersex, Sex and/or Gender Diverse people can be particularly targeted within the greater society ...

REPRESSION OF QUESTIONS ABOUT, BEHAVIOUR ASSOCIATED WITH, OR SELF-IDENTIFYING WITH A TRANSGENDER IDENTIFICATION

Article appeared in Polare 22, December 1997

Atype of child abuse that affects transgender people is Gender Identity Developmental Repressive Abuse. It forces children to repress questions about gender identity, cross-gendered play-acting and behaviour, or from self-identifying with a transgender identification ...

TACKLING ONE OF THE BEST UNDERSTOOD MENTAL ILLNESSES

Article appeared in Polare 58, July 2004

Depression is the leading mental health issue facing all people, transgender or not. With this knowledge it must be understood that it doesn't mean having a transgender identity or fulfilling cross-dressing needs is pathological, mentally disordered or medically diseased ...

MOST OF US UNDERSTAND LIVING WITH FEAR

Article appeared in Polare 40, December 2000

Living with fear is something most of us grow with. Fear of the unknown, fear of being seen, fear of being detected or abuse, fear of losing family, home, friends, there is so much fear, and while it can influence parts of our life, it certainly shouldn't dominate it ... 

HEALTH TO HEALING, DEPENDENCY TO AUTONOMY

Article appeared in Polare 13, June 1996

For intuition to flourish, we need an atmosphere of meditation, contemplation or spending moments alone. We need to develop an awareness of our mental control, physical and emotional tensions ...

THE CATCH 22 OF TRANSGENDER

Article appeared in Polare 63, May 2005

Transgender has its own built in Catch 22. You need very high self-esteem to successfully deal with being transgendered, but simply being transgendered is one of the great forces sapping your self-esteem. But don't despair! Julie has discovered a loophole. ...

PSYCHOLOGICAL AND MEDICAL HEALTH AND LIFESTYLE

Article appeared in Polare 23, February 1998

Stress and the Transgendered Community was a paper presented at the first National L.G.B.T. Health Conference, Health in Difference in 1996. In this paper, Lana Barlow focuses on the combination of a trans person's psychological and medical health and their lifestyle ...

PEOPLE ACTUALLY CONSIDER THEIR TRANSSEXUALISM A GIFT?

Article appeared in Polare 26, August 1998

Carl's jaw hit the floor when he first became aware of people that considered their transsexualism a gift. Ten months on, he no longer resents the hand that he was dealt in life and knows that his transsexualism has made him a better person than him would've been without it ...

REACHING OUT AND BEING VULNERABLE

Article appeared in Polare 88, July 2011

Gender Centre Counsellor Anthony Carlino writes that when we take the risk to try something different, to reach out and be vulnerable in the presence of another, we potentially learn another way of being in the world ... 

LEAVING ADULT SURVIVORS LIVING WITH DEPRESSION

Article appeared in Polare 92, July 2012

Gender Centre Counsellor, Anthony Carlino, revisits the issue of adults who grow up in narcissistic families often finding themselves living with a lack of satisfaction and depression that they find particularly difficult to explain to a counsellor or therapist ... 

WHEN THE NEEDS OF THE PARENTS CAME BEFORE THE NEEDS OF THE CHILD

Article appeared in Polare 89, October 2011

Gender Centre Counsellor Anthony Carlino scratches the surface of the seemingly functioning, healthy family and reveals the emotional repression that exists in a narcissistic family, a family where the needs of the parents come before the needs of the child ... 

SOME INDIVIDUALS ALLOW THEMSELVES TO SUFFER TREMENDOUS PAIN

Article appeared in Polare 29, February 1999

Depression is the leading health issue in transgender and non-transgender populations, yet sufferers are unlikely to seek treatment which is tragic because depression is one of the best understood mental illnesses, with recognizable symptoms and effective interventions ... 

TRANSITIONING IS BEING GIVEN THE TOOLS AND KNOWLEDGE TO ASK THE QUESTIONS WHOSE ANSWERS SET THEM FREE

Article appeared in Polare 33, October 1999

Transitioning is being given the knowledge to ask the questions that help the old artificial persona fall away, revealing a brand new self. However transitioned people appear to others, to themselves they are happy, and sometimes for the first time, whole individuals ...