Up to a third of trans-identified teens put on puberty blockers suffered a significant decline in mental health, according to new analysis of a survey from the United Kingdom.
In August, researchers published an updated review of data from a 2021 study in the U.K. on medRxiv, a preprint service for medical research. The original study conducted by the U.K. National Health Service (NHS) examined 44 children aged 12 to 15 over three years who were prescribed puberty-blocking drugs to treat gender dysphoria. Participants took triptorelin, a prostate cancer medicine used to inhibit the synthesis of estrogen in women and testosterone in men.
According to researchers at the University of Essex, the mental health of between 15 and 34 percent of participants significantly deteriorated while on the puberty-inhibiting drug. Just between 9 and 20 percent reported a reliable improvement. Between 56 and 68 percent “experience[d] no reliable change” in “internalising or externalising problems” manifesting in emotional and behavioral distress.
In other words, less than a fifth of those prescribed puberty-blocking drugs, if that, experienced emotional improvement after taking triptorelin. The findings contradict broad claims that such medical interventions are necessary to save gender-confused children from the perils of suicidal ideation. While the updated analysis from the University of Essex has yet to be peer-reviewed, another long-term study from Sweden found those who underwent transgender surgery were 19 times more likely to die by suicide than the general public.
The national suicide hotline is 1-800-273-8255. More resources are here.
A U.S. study published in 2019 found nearly 60 percent of trans-identified patients in a more than 10,000-patient survey were diagnosed with at least one psychiatric disorder (besides gender dysphoria) to begin with.
In June, the U.K. NHS updated guidelines to prohibit prescriptions for puberty blockers outside of clinical research. The change in protocol follows other European nations similarly pulling back on dangerous premature medical interventions on minors who wish to manipulate their gender.
“In the past few years, European health authorities conducted systematic reviews of evidence for the benefits and risks of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones,” City Journal reported in February. “The findings from these reviews — that the certainty of benefits is very low — guided the hand of policymakers there to restrict access to hormones.”
On Friday, California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed radical legislation mandating that parents “affirm” their child’s “gender identity” or potentially lose custody. Parents with kids in California’s Chino Valley Unified School District, however, are still fighting state Democrats for the right to care for their own children.
In August, California’s far-left Attorney General Rob Bonta launched a legal crusade to terminate the district’s new policy requiring schools to notify parents whenever a child tries to change pronouns or display other symptoms of gender dysphoria.
[RELATED: School District Gears Up To Fight California AG Trying To Make Them Secretly Trans Kids]
This article has been corrected since publication.
