Quarantine has given me, if anything, far too much time to myself to think. This is where my experience with dysphoria presented itself. I felt wrong, and a lot of the time I had difficulty perceiving myself or letting myself express my identity in certain ways.
It fed into my anxiety, made me feel like I was out of place, and I felt myself drawing in, trying to blend into the background in order to not be perceived. For a while in high school, I tried to reject the feeling that I now recognize as dysphoria, by being hyperfeminine. When I presented this way, I got the most compliments from family and friends and random strangers, so I thought, this must be the right answer.
So I thought I would never be perceived the way I wished I would. Then as I moved forward, I realized there was no blueprint I needed to be following. There was nothing I had to do to be nonbinary, it was just a matter of saying it.
I am nonbinary, no matter how others percieves me. Among all depressive symptoms, dysphoria holds the strongest association with smoking outcomes.
Researchers suspect it is central to the development and maintenance of maladaptive smoking. A study published in Addictive Behaviors found that individuals with pain-related anxiety are especially likely to smoke cigarettes to cope with feelings of dysphoria. Because dysphoria is not considered a diagnosable mental health condition, it is not formally divided into different types.
However, there are different related conditions that may be unofficially considered as types of dysphoria. Currently, the term dysphoria is most commonly used when discussing gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria refers to the distress a person experiences when their gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.
The dysphoria sometimes resolves when the individual transitions or begins to live as the gender they identify with. However, some people continue to experience dysphoria during and after transitioning. Dysphoria may also be talked about in terms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder PMDD. Symptoms may include a variety of physical and psychological symptoms, including moodiness, irritability, depression, and poor self-image.
It may be treated with medication and lifestyle changes. Tardive dysphoria is used to describe treatment-resistant chronic depression. This type of dysphoria is linked to the long-term use of antidepressants.
Start by talking to your physician. Your doctor will want to rule out any medical conditions or medication interactions that may be causing your dysphoria. Once physical health issues are ruled out , you may be referred to a mental health professional, who can assess your symptoms and determine if your dysphoria is part of a mental health condition.
Treatment depends on the cause of the dysphoria. Talk therapy, medication, or lifestyle changes may be recommended to help improve your mood and assist you in feeling your best. In addition to professional treatments, there are also lifestyle modifications that may help people cope with feelings of dysphoria. Some things that you can do if you are having dysphoric feelings include:. For more mental health resources, see our National Helpline Database.
Struggling with stress? Our guide offers expert advice on how to better manage stress levels. Get it FREE when you sign up for our newsletter. Hallford DJ. The phenomenological characteristics of autobiographical future thinking in dysphoric and non-dysphoric individuals.
Psychiatry Res. Maryland Heights, MO: Mosby; Suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in persons with gender dysphoria. Nutrition and depression: Implications for improving mental health among childbearing-aged women.
Biol Psychiatry. Doerr-Zegers O. Dysphoria in mania and in depression. Eur Psychiat. Alcohol misuse. Something that has given me a ton of gender euphoria is actually school.
It might sound shocking since middle school is kind of like a nightmare for a lot of people. But for me, school became the first place where I could actually be myself with surprisingly very little judgement. I told my teachers about my preferred pronouns and name about a week before I went to school in person around the 3rd quarter of the school year and my teachers were very supportive. Very soon after that, everyone in school was calling me Axel and not my birth name.
I was pleasantly surprised that support came from a place where I least expected it. Honestly, it almost felt like a dream.
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