Passive Distraction

Passive distraction means doing something that doesn’t take a lot of effort or attention, like watching TV, listening to music, napping, or daydreaming. It can be helpful when you’re feeling overwhelmed by your gender dysphoria, and you don’t have the energy to do something more active.

Passive distraction works really well for a lot of people, however there can be times when you are unable to turn your thoughts off. For example, you may start to watch your favorite show but notice that the gender dysphoria still won’t shut up.

If your thoughts keep racing, you can switch to one of the other avoidance strategies. It is not a big deal to switch if one of these strategies is not working for you right at that moment. That is why we are going over so many of them!