Cognitive Reframes

Cognitive reframing is a technique to reduce negative feelings caused by the gender dysphoria through changing negative thoughts about yourself into more neutral or positive ones. You can do this by thinking about times when you felt good about your gender, questioning negative thoughts about your gender identity, or reminding yourself about things related to your gender that make you proud.

Here are some ways to use cognitive reframing:

1. Notice negative self-talk – thoughts that we tell ourselves that are mean, unkind, or critical.
   For example, the gender dysphoria tells you – your shoulders are too wide/small, your chest is too big/small, you are too short/tall, you will never pass, you will always feel gender dysphoria.
2. Respond by thinking of something positive about yourself.
   For example, I am beautiful in my own way, I have an amazing style, I have my surgery scheduled, I pass more often than not, I did not feel gender dysphoria this morning.

The goal is to turn negative thoughts into positive ones by focusing on the good things about you!

Here are some more examples:

When you begin to practice cognitive reframes it can be difficult to go straight from a negative thought into a positive thought. A good first step is to move towards a more neutral thought.

For example: