such as like this:
The concept of gender identity is said to be real as an experience, (like how theists claim to see god [a claim basically]), but scientifically under-defined, weakly grounded biologically, and sometimes treated as more fixed or explanatory than current evidence justifies.
Most children and teenagers with gender dysphoria grow out of it on their own. Giving children and teens easy access to strong drugs that will affect their whole future life, is something that should be questioned. Children know little, struggle to find their identity, are easily influenced, and often make stupid decisions. Societal roles help children orient and find their way around the world. How can we expect a child to understand something as complex as gender fully to make an informed decision?
Gender dysphoria rarely comes alone, usually it’s comorbid with a bunch of other psychological issues. Then transition is often presented as the one treatment that will fix everything. It often fails to do that.
Trans issues are mental health issues. They have been politicized by making it about identity and attaching it to the political struggle of gay and bi people. No other mental health issue has that kind of political clout and rigid ideology attached to it. The political activism has glued itself to radical ideas.
Scientific research into trans issues has become difficult to conduct, because if you have the „wrong“ results, you might not have a career and be labeled transphobic. In the end it’s trans people themselves who suffer the most from this.
Helping people live a healthy and fulfilling life should be the goal. If someone transitioning is the only thing that helps someone, then by all means go for it.
Do you have statistics to back this up?
Do puberty blockers have this effect?
Any more statistics?
I would agree that this is something that we should be concerned about. I think a recent example was the Cass report in the UK.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.2147/AHMT.S135432
Puberty blockers are a strong change in your life and a severe intrusion into the natural development of a body. Instead of going through puberty like most other kids, the child will be behind in their physical development by years. That can lead to social and psychological problems of course.
There’s generally not much quality research into the long term effects, as you can read repeatedly in [the Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puberty_blocker#Research).
As for transitioning not resolving the psychological issues, those choosing to detransition are the best proof. https://segm.org/first_large_study_of_detransitioners
I haven’t bothered to look for data concerning the long term mental health of those who transition. I only have lots of anecdotes from conversations with trans folk over the years. That’s of course not representative.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36151828/
That’s very enlightening and thought-provoking material. The detransition figures about people being abandoned is disturbing. Thank you for this.
As for the mental health issues- some could argue that the Gender Dysphoria causes these issues, and that these issues are side effects of Gender Dysphoria. So I’m not too sure if existing mental health issues invalidates gender dysphoria.
It’s not about invalidation. It’s about the case of lost and mentally unwell people finding out about transgender, then find a welcoming community, that accepts them. They get presented a simple explanation on why they don’t feel like themselves and a path through that. If other people (like the parents) shed doubt on this, they can be called transphobic and face social consequences. So if someone grabs onto this, they get treatment in the form of hormone pills pretty much immediately under informed consent.
Differential diagnosis for mental health issues is never easy. One mental health issue can easily cause others. The major difference is that gender and being trans can become a big part of one’s identity. You don’t get that to that extent with other disorders.
Especially the overlap with autism is interesting and not obviouS. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-psychiatry/article/crossing-boundaries-unraveling-the-link-between-gender-dysphoria-and-autism/DB33E9208EF32A46C4AE83D9B673F498
I invite you to seek out interviews with detransitioners and people who used to work in gender affirming care, if you want to learn about Trans issues from someone besides activists.
That said trans people are real and some benefit from transitioning. The very charged political climate around this health care issue, creates problems for trans and non trans folk alike.
I am autistic and used to be led into believing I was non binary by a friend group. Thankfully I am out of that group. Ironically, they were the most intolerant people I knew (I wouldn’t have cared if they civilly disagreed with me on some issues, but they wouldn’t.) Meanwhile the evangelical church my family had belonged to, that I went to when I was younger, welcomed me back in with open arms despite civilly disagreeing with my identity and view on gender at the time.