An increase in severe mental health problems was noted among some adolescents and young adults who have undergone medical gender reassignment (GR).
Particularly: young people who underwent gender identity assessments with the hope of receiving medical GR had required psychiatric treatment for severe mental health problems three times more often than age‑matched controls.
This was found by study, “Psychiatric Morbidity Among Adolescents and Young Adults Who Contacted Specialised Gender Identity Services in Finland in 1996–2019: A Register Study”, that was published in Acta Paediatrica.
For this study that was conducted in Finland, included were all adolescents and young adults who attended the gender identity clinics at Helsinki University Hospital and Tampere University Hospital between 1996 and 2019 due to gender dysphoria.
Psychiatric morbidity was compared between this group and age-matched population controls both before the gender identity assessments and throughout the follow‑up period after the first appointment. During follow-up, the need for specialist‑level psychiatric treatment was monitored at least two years after the first appointment at the gender identity clinics and at least one year after the potential initiation of medical GR. The average follow-up period exceeded five years, with the longest extending to 20 years.
The study also examined psychiatric morbidity among individuals referred for gender identity assessments before and after 2010, when referral rates to gender identity clinics increased markedly in Western countries.
After a minimum follow-up period of two years following the gender identity assessments, severe psychiatric morbidity was found to be four times more prevalent among these young people than in the control group.
The increase in severe mental health problems was particularly evident among those who had undergone medical GR interventions.
Also, individuals referred after 2010 exhibited higher levels of psychiatric morbidity than those referred in earlier decades, while no comparable increase was observed in the control group.
“High expectations have been placed on medical GR interventions initiated during adolescence, as they are believed to have a positive effect on mental health and overall functioning. However, this exceptionally comprehensive and nationally representative register‑based follow‑up study did not demonstrate these benefits. On the contrary, the findings indicate a deterioration in mental health among individuals who undergo medical GR interventions”, says the lead author of the research article, Sami-Matti Ruuska from Tampere University.
For some young people seeking gender identity assessments with the hope of undergoing medical GR, gender dysphoria may be secondary to other underlying mental health issues. For some, medical GR may even have negative consequences.
According to the researchers, the findings highlight the importance of effectively identifying and appropriately treating mental health problems among young people experiencing gender dysphoria.
