At 21 years old, after a history of being treated for social anxiety, clinical depression, panic attacks, self-harming behaviour, and a suicide attempt, Michelle Zacchigna thought she might be a man.
She was unhappy and depressed and had dropped out of university due to her declining mental health. She became fascinated with a “gender nonconformity” subculture on the internet and believed that once she took on a new identity and gender, the depression would go away.
At the time, videos on social media of people documenting their transition were “really popular,” she said.
“It was almost indoctrination,” Zacchigna told The Epoch Times….