Follow the science
It is hard to get a group of highly respected clinicians to take a public position on such a divisive issue as the appropriate medical standard of care for adolescents and children diagnosed as gender dysphoric.
However, 21 clinicians and researchers from 9 countries - Finland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, France, UK, US, South Africa, and Switzerland - wrote last week to the WSJ to express their unanimous view that, "The politicization of transgender healthcare in the U.S. is unfortunate. The way to combat it is for medical societies to align their recommendations with the best available evidence—rather than exaggerating the benefits and minimizing the risks."
Their letter was in response to an earlier opinion piece by the head of the Endocrine Society, in which he had written “More than 2,000 studies published since 1975 form a clear picture: Gender-affirming care improves the well-being of transgender and gender-diverse people and reduces the risk of suicide.”
The 21 clinicians were unambiguous in contesting the accuracy of that statement.
"This claim is not supported by the best available evidence.
"Every systematic review of evidence to date, including one published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society, has found the evidence for mental-health benefits of hormonal interventions for minors to be of low or very low certainty. By contrast, the risks are significant and include sterility, lifelong dependence on medication and the anguish of regret. For this reason, more and more European countries and international professional organizations now recommend psychotherapy rather than hormones and surgeries as the first line of treatment for gender-dysphoric youth.
"[The] claim that gender transition reduces suicides is contradicted by every systematic review, including the review published by the Endocrine Society, which states, “We could not draw any conclusions about death by suicide.” There is no reliable evidence to suggest that hormonal transition is an effective suicide-prevention measure."
