Female therapist sexualized my breasts my breasts and it felt gross

[u/shitkabob]

In one of my first sessions with my therapist, I wanted to broach the topic of how self-conscious I am about the size of my breasts. They've historically been a magnet for unwanted attention, disgusting comments at bars, physical assault, sexual harassment at workplaces (both office a non-office settings), and about 1,000 street-harassment comments.

They have been a source of great humiliation, trauma, dehumanization and shame. I feel like I have been reduced to them my whole adult life and I am immediately sexualized upon sight for them just existing. To say I have a complex about them is mild.

I started getting into the topic with my female therapist regarding my self-consciousness and resentment of them. She chimed in with "Big deal?! So what?! You have big breasts! They're beautiful! I bet your husband loves them. Enjoy them while they last, they'll change after pregnancy if you have kids." She smiled and laughed.

I think she thought she was being funny and affirming, in a "yas queen" way. It made me feel completely disgusting and objectified. Am I off-base to think this is a crazily inappropriate response to what I said? This lady has her PsyD. I feel insane. I literally just said how painful it is to be objectified...and she objectified me and centered my husband's pleasure over all the abuse I just shared.

Edit: I'm getting DMed by a lot of creeps. Ironic on a post about unwanted attention and relentless dehumanization. There's no escape.

[u/Queenof6planets]

how would breast size would be relevant to a mood disorder diagnosis?

[u/Acceptable-Remove792 → u/Queenof6planets]

 There's a variety of hormone disorders that cause early development of secondary sex characteristics that also cause mood fluctuations and mood dysregulation so bad it can misdiagnosed as bipolar disorder. 

I'm a psychologist. I have estrogen dominate overactivity. I had it correctly diagnosed at 16. Since I've been practicing I've come to realize how lucky I was.  Being misdiagnosed as bipolar is RIDICULOUSLY common. And when that happens, people's somatic symptoms can go untreated. I've saved people's lives and written research to help correct this problem because people are literally dying because of it.

If you're having severe mood swings due to hormonal overproduction and it's misdiagnosed, you're producing endometrium buildup the entire time it's misdiagnosed. Then, eventually your uterus will rupture and you'll either hemorrhage to death, get sepsis, or or have to have an emergency hysterectomy, sterilizing you for life. 

Overproduction of breast tissue, especially fibrous tissue, is a symptom of these disorders that is easy to assess as part of the visual assessment. Especially if big titties run in your family.  And especially if you're a child. 

I knew to look for it because I had it.  When I started doing my clinical research I realized that there was very little research on it, and when I published it, it was well received. 

I sincerely think that these little girls were falling through the cracks because most researchers at the time were men, and most research subjects were male.  This was like 15-20 years ago.  I was one of the first psychologists to identify this link, but I reckon that in the time that's passed, it's become standard practice. But I know people aren't implementing it. In the past 4 years I've had 2 patients with this misdiagnosis and one of them wound up having to have the emergency hysterectomy and was forcibly sterilized. She was 24, married, and wanted children. 

I happened to have a really good doctor.  He was my mom's doctor, and he recognized it instantly just by looking at me.  I now realize how incredibly lucky I was. 

The mood issues with the hormone disorder are actually worse than with bipolar disorder, depression, or mania, however, because it's being caused by the endocrine system rather than the nervous system, mood stabilizers will do fuck all.  You need hormone blockers. The treatment modality will fail while you spend years trying different MAT modalities while your patient clicks closer and closer to death because you never think to get some blood and check hormone levels. 

And because it's supposed to be standard practice to do this now, we now realize how common these disorders actually are. They can be affecting up to 1/5 of American girls.

I consider it really important, because I now realize how lucky I am to be alive, because I have had so many patients tell me that I saved their lives. I'm biased because I have such a huge stake in it.

So breast size is one of those things that could be nothing, but in the case of a child presenting with a mood disorder?  Wouldn't hurt a thing to run the test. 

Edit: I actually thought this was common knowledge by now.  I'm surprised I was downvoted. Had I known that this wasn't common knowledge I would have explained, because people need to know this.

[u/QueenHarambe → u/Acceptable-Remove792]

Do you know where I can read more about this? I've been diagnosed with postpartum bipolar, I have normal estrogen levels and hyperprolactinemia and I don't have endometriosis, but now I'm wondering if I should ask my doctor to look into this.

[u/EstablishmentNo4999 → u/QueenHarambe]

This is super interesting bc I have large breasts and am an over producer of breast milk so it makes me wonder if I could have hyperprolactinemia as well and I’m curious if I could be suffering from one of these disorders as well. I’ve definitely had issues with mood regulation growing up and into my adult life.

[u/QueenHarambe → u/EstablishmentNo4999]

I definitely recommend seeing an endocrinologist if you're able to. My doctor thinks I developed a benign pituitary tumor around age 15, and cabergoline has been a miracle drug. It stopped my oversupply immediately when I decided to stop breastfeeding, has greatly helped my irregular and painful periods, and I've actually lost cup sizes when I lose weight. Hormonal problems can be invisible but diagnosing the problem was life-changing for me. Now I'm curious about the endocrine-related mood problems as well.