Mandy realized that she can't help her poor boy come to his senses, and back to his mommy all by herself. She needed to find help for her and Cody's problem. She searched on the social media site Rebbit to find other mothers who were in a similar situation to ask for their advice.
On Rebbit there was a subrebbit with mommies talking about age dysphoria called r/AgeDysphoria. This was a pretty new diagnosis. Age dysphoric people felt that being an adult was not good for them and caused significant unease and social maladjustment. Treatment was based on
Psychological transition
This meant working with a therapist to come to terms with your dysphoria and realizing that you need treatment. It also means learning new childish habits like losing your potty training and unlearning adult habits like knowing how to drive a car.
Social transition
Having your social environment recognize your new age and treating you accordingly.
Medical transition
receiving medical treatment which makes you appear younger, for example shrinking your height or making you lose your body hair.
The users on Rebbit were talking about how it's pretty easy for parents to get a diagnosis of age dysphoria for their child. The user u/ _M0mmy_PAULA_ wrote:
“My little Tyler is so cute now. He has transitioned to age 9 even though he's actually 21. He goes to a local school and behaves just like the other children, except for the fact that he won't grow up. I've made sure of that. The clinic gives him a medicine that keeps him young looking and I've had his legal age changed to age 9. Every time he has a birthday the clinic helps me fill out the paperwork so that he legally stays 9. He's been that same age for three years now. I'm so happy that I've got my boy back and I feel safe that he won't get any STD s from fooling around with girls anymore. I couldn't be more satisfied.”
user u/ Mama_Lisa_