Turning Point USA

A Finnish study published in November found no evidence that transgender-identifying individuals who receive “gender-affirming” care have better mental health outcomes.

The findings, which many found not particularly surprising, conclusively asserted that “even when medical GR [gender-reassignment] interventions are carried out,” people experiencing gender dysphoria “present with many more common psychiatric needs” than the general population, the Daily Signal reported.

The study reviewed the records of 3,665 individuals who “contacted the nationally centralized gender identity services (GIS) in Finland” anytime between 1996 and 2019, where 38.4% of this group underwent so-called gender-affirming care in the form of cross-sex hormones or gender-reassignment surgery. Researchers then “matched” each person by sex and age with eight people to create the control group, consisting of 29,292 people.

The day of the gender-dysphoric individual’s first appointment with a gender-affirming clinic was referenced throughout the study as the “index date.” The two groups were compared before and after this date over two years to accurately determine the effects of the gender reassignment treatments.

The gender-dysphoric group was 2.4 times more likely to reach out to a specialist-level psychiatrist than the control group prior to the index date. After the index date, however, that number increased to 4.2 times more likely to contact a psychiatric specialist, making the group as a whole 60.6% likely to seek out serious mental health services, compared to the control group’s 14.5% likelihood of seeking psychiatric care.

The Daily Signal further explained, “People with gender dysphoria were 3.2 times more likely to have received inpatient psychiatric treatment before the index date (11.7% to 3.6%) and 4.0 times more likely after the index date (10.7% to 2.7%).”

The outlet reported that researchers found people were nearly three times more likely to not pursue “gender-affirming” treatments if they received “serious psychiatric treatment” before their index date.

Furthermore, half of the individuals with gender dysphoria who received any form of “gender-affirming” care sought out serious psychiatric treatment.

Ultimately, researchers concluded that evidence “[does] not suggest medical GR [gender-reassignment] interventions resolve psychiatric [co-]morbidity among people experiencing gender distress.” Despite these conclusive findings, many medical professionals and LGBTQ+ activists falsely advertise medical gender-reassignment interventions as the cure-all to mental illness and distress.