After coming out to my therapist today during therapy I wanted to do more research into bigender support and what studies have been done on others like me. What are some of the things that I have been feeling and is it credibly looked into and known and identified? I am a very curious person and so down a rabbit whole I went.

I was able to find a study discussing alternating gender incongruity hypothesizing that in their sample size that bipolar disorder could signify a neurological flipping. This was significant to them because they were able to use it to explain why people feel like both or either or or variations causing active changes with in the body. But as someone outside of this study and not having bipolar disorder I doubted this to an extent but I could be an outlier I do not know fully. Hence the research.

As I scrolled down to see what studies may have referenced the alternating gender article and I found Examining the prevalence of trans phantoms among transgender, non-binary, and gender diverse individuals: An exploratory study. I had never heard of trans phantoms so I wanted to know the definition. Thankfully the first sentence explained it all to me:

"Trans phantoms are bodily sensations of gendered body parts that a person was not born with (i.e., a phantom penis experienced by a trans man, or a phantom vagina experienced by a trans woman). This is distinct from the experience of many transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people, who experience awareness of their bodies as missing a gendered body part, or configuration, which is a major characteristic of gender dysphoria."(Cast, Gliechman, &Langer, 2023)

As soon as I read this it made total sense to me. That yes what I have been feeling is valid and a real symptom related to my gender identity. As well as that there is a sizable population in which this seems to occur. Meaning I am not alone and that there is support for me that I can look into further.

I wanted to share this so that maybe others who have dealt with this may not know what it is and so here it is. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37114107/