28. Camille
Camille Kiefel, USA
“She told me that it was the worst divorce she’d seen in all her years as a therapist. I didn’t take it well. I struggled with childhood depression and my ADHD only made things worse. In 6th grade, my best friend confided in our group of friends. Her brother had raped her. The police came and talked to us in an office in the annexed building of our school. I remember it was a female and male cop. Both professional and sympathetic. I remember when they asked me what rape was and I said elope which was the wrong word. I didn’t want to say sex. I was just a kid.
Around that same time, my dad, with his anxiety, told me how men his age talked sexually about girls my age. I started to dress more masculine.
I became a pescatarian in high school. With fish as my only source of protein, I fell into depression a year later. I never made the connection until recently.
Struggling with depression, I became a women’s studies minor. I was so good at it and a professor selected me to become a peer mentor. It was there I was introduced to gender theory. I finally had a place where I belonged or so I thought.
Call-out culture was rampant. I ended up developing CPTSD. I had no place to go.
I started identifying as non-binary after working with a therapist in 2016. In 2018, I went on disability due to a toxic work environment. I needed help getting out of bed in the morning. I was depressed and unstable.
After 20 years of talk therapy, EMDR, DBT, hypnotherapy, and TMS, I had nothing left that conventional therapy had to offer. I asked my doctor about top surgery.
Within months I was approved and had “top surgery.” I remember not being sure when the surgeon asked me what I wanted. I said I wanted surgery that wasn’t masculine. I wanted something in between.
They performed a surgery on me that had no biological blueprint in nature.
After the surgery, I developed complications. There were many times I didn’t know if I was going to make it through the night. I made a decision that I either needed to improve my quality of life, because no human being was designed live this way, or I need to get better. I choose the latter.
Through a holistic approach, I started getting better. Now I work to help others do the same.”
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/GetBetterTweets
YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1c2vwre-tshcphcilX84Mw
My testimony for the Florida Board of Medicine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWVxsZf7ntw&t=3s&ab_channel=TheGetBetterResearcher
Interviews:
Buck Angel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ogs-0onakU&t=282s&ab_channel=BuckAngel
Theoria
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaZRc0fTCS4&t=172s&ab_channel=Theoria
Erin Brewer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uyo-pR5iUc&t=352s&ab_channel=ErinBrewer