Mary Rice Hasson, the director of the Person and Identity Project at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told CNA that the Finnish study is “critically important” because it is the “first large-scale, reliable study using matched controls and a significant follow-up time (six years), to assess the suicide risk of youth with gender dysphoria.”
“Contrary to claims that young people with gender dysphoria (identity or body-related distress) are more likely to [die by] suicide and that ‘gender transition’ interventions will prevent suicide, this study proves that preexisting psychiatric problems explain the suicide rates of these young people — and that, in fact, the suicide rate is far lower than typically reported,” Hasson said.
“This is good news, and it points the way to more effective treatment for young people with ‘gender dysphoria’ and confirms the direction taken by several European countries already,” she added. “They are providing gender-dysphoric young people with psychotherapy and addressing underlying psychiatric issues rather than attempting to heal their inner wounds through surgery or hormones.”
Jay Richards, the director of the DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family at the Heritage Foundation, told CNA that the assertion that these drugs and procedures will prevent suicide “is probably the No. 1 myth of folks advocating this approach.”
Richards warned that the supporters of transgender procedures for children will often use this claim as a form of “emotional blackmail” against parents who are hesitant about facilitating a sex change for their children. He suggested that parents take “a watchful waiting approach” rather than “a hyper-medicalized approach,” noting that most children will reconcile with their sexed body if permitted to go through natural puberty.
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) in the United States, or go to Suicide.org to find hotlines in other countries.
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