The invisible trauma of growing up queer in India and why therapy matters

THE PAINFUL LIVES BEHIND WHAT THE WORLD SEES…

This is the story of human beings who have no fault in them for how they feel and who they are. Imagine a world where you are not treated the way you want to be treated and the reasons stated are not justified in any way but people are just against you. Imagine a space where you are set apart from the rest of the people in your community and you just cannot do anything about it other than plead with angst and uncertainty for acceptance. Over time, some may grow hostile, some may withdraw socially to engage elsewhere and some may unfortunately quit fighting the cruel world. 

 

This is the story of every LGBTQ individual in a country like India which is a collectivistic culture meaning we have close knit communities where word of mouth truly spreads across, reinforcing discrimination on this matter. This is the reality. Yes, there exist families that welcome their children with open arms but more than half do not. These are people who do not fit into the ‘Set Identities’ concerned with sexual orientation, gender, and sometimes both. The norms are meant to set a standard which is acceptable but Biology and Psychology deserve an open mind. Gurgaon is a fast paced city that is building more queer affirmed care for those in need, there are psychology doctors in Gurgaon who are skilled to be the best psychotherapist in Gurgaon for you. Psychologists in Gurgaon are well trained to help you navigate through this journey of change and battle of acceptance from family and friends.

 

DIGGING INTO THE DAILY CHALLENGES OF QUEERS

Queer individuals include individuals who identify as gay or lesbian or bisexual which sets them apart from the majority as their sexual preferences differ as they prefer partners of the same gender or both. On the other hand, there are individuals who identify themselves of the opposite gender, not aligning with their assigned gender at birth and are often referred to as a transman or transwoman and as transgender as a collective identity. 

Right from feeling alienated to mocked to feeling no sense of belonging with the rest of they world, sorrow digs deep into full blown mental health conditions that can consist of Depression and Gender Dysphoria which has a 90% comorbidity with ADHD according to studies in Psychiatry and Clinical Pharmacology. 

 

DO WE TRULY PRACTICE WHAT WE PREACH?

We often come across these fancy life quotes on social media platforms that talk about acknowledging self and one another for who they are and not discriminate on the grounds of nationality, religion, race, ethnicity and the list goes on. There are riots held to fight against these prejudices. Where does hate for humankind stem from? This is a question we all must ponder upon to truly discover the roots of hatred for belonging to a particular group. Gurgaon is a fast paced city that is building more queer affirmed care for those in need, there are psychology doctors in Gurgaon who are skilled to be the best psychotherapist in Gurgaon for you. Psychologists in Gurgaon are well trained to help you navigate through this journey of change and battle of acceptance from family and friends.

 

WHAT ABOUT THE INTERNAL BATTLES OF QUEERS BEFORE COMING OUT TO FIGHT THE EXTERNAL ONES?

It’s not like one fine day, you choose to transition altogether and your sexual orientation or gender identity shifts. It is an internal war fought in isolation for years together before one makes the choice to finally say it out aloud about how they feel and identify themselves. It is already challenging since they do not fit in with the majority, they already are deeply ingrained in doubt and researching on why they feel the way they do. 

This doubt amplifies when one even slightly thinks about the amount of criticism, shame, and guilt they will have to navigate through all their lives surrounded by family and friends who may not be supportive of it at large. 

 

QUEER AFFIRMED CARE TO ACQUAINT THE TRAUMA OF BEING UNSEEN AND UNHEARD FOR WHO YOU TRULY ARE…

This is super essential because of the several unreasonable tragedies that the queers go through which are not under their control. Being exposed to constant opposition and even being abandoned from your own homes can leave mental scars for the rest of your life if not processed adequately. 

Therefore, therapy comes into play here to address the issues of identity tapping into the psychology of the individual to create a journey towards healing. The points of focus in queer therapy revolve around:

1. Exploring identity which is the key theme to understand the goals 
2. Cultural sensitivity is highly essential as therapy must be customised based on where the individual is hailing from as this is a subjective experience and not all queers will fit into the same box in terms of the challenges faced.
3. Addressing the uniqueness must be prioritized as there are different phases in the journey of queers. Some may be facing the conflict of coming out while some may be caught up with navigating through explicit discrimination while there may also be individuals struggling to embrace themselves in this journey.

The therapy formats can involve Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral therapy to eventually cultivate change and acceptance in them. Gurgaon is a fast paced city that is building more queer affirmed care for those in need, there are psychology doctors in Gurgaon who are skilled to be the best psychotherapist in Gurgaon for you. Psychologists in Gurgaon are well trained to help you navigate through this journey of change and battle of acceptance from family and friends.

There are always more darts pointed towards why the queers think, feel, and behave the way they do but more research needs to come up about why the people around are the way they are. Why do we set them apart just because of a physical difference? The need for advocacy on this front questions the legitimacy of freedom in terms of who we want to be as humans and puts forth the idea of UNIFORMITY over UNIQUENESS. Are we truly embracing the popup quotes from Instagram and Reddit of ‘BE YOURSELF’? Leaving you all with something to think about.

 

Why CoachForMind?

• Experienced Psychologists: We are a team of licensed RCI-registered clinical psychologists. Our team is well-experienced in various forms of therapy such as CBT, DBT, Narrative Therapy, and queer affirmative therapy.
• Personalized Approach: We are dedicated to treating our clients in the best-suited way, carefully curated as per the client's needs, and adhering to one-on-one, client-centered therapy. 
• Scientific Techniques: Our treatment plans and therapeutic methods are based on highly researched scientific findings such as CBT, DBT, and Narrative Therapy among many other therapeutic techniques used in art therapy counselling.
• Quality service: We at CoachForMind ensure quality services in our treatment regime and therapeutic approaches. Our clients hold most value to us, so we ground our techniques in empathy while maintaining professionalism.

For more information, please visit our website or contact us directly at coachformind@gmail.com