People who have medically transitioned have a higher rate of suicide

[Lovelyview]

American study. Individuals who underwent gender-affirming surgery had a 12.12-fold higher suicide attempt risk than those who did not.

However they don't appear to have compared people who underwent gender surgery with those who had gender distress but didn't undergo surgery. Still shows that the psychological problems don't vanish with surgery.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11063965/

I think what is often forgotten amongst all the noise is that any form of transitioning is complex. It isn't only young people who are vulnerable.

Professionally, the trans people I have cared for have all had significant psychological needs, and are usually looking to transition - in whatever form that takes - because they believe it will make them happier. Unfortunately, that happiness often proves to be elusive, especially when underlying causes have not been addressed.

I've said before on these threads that it isn't only women's rights that are affected by thoughtless attempts to make transitioning easier. And self ID would be an absolute disaster for many of those taking that route without counselling and professional support.

I seem to remember suicide among trans identifying people peaks 7 years after medical transition? Don’t have a link for that though - be interested if anyone does 🙏

It isn't only young people who are vulnerable.

A thousand times yes. Some adults are "vulnerable adults" all the time, and some of us are vulnerable some of the time. I am often frustrated when people are, rightly, focussed on protecting children but go on to say that consenting adults can do whatever they like.

An adult under the influence of a malign or totally nutty sect, or an adult with mental health problems, may not see reality clearly, and in that case how can they consent meaningfully?

Problem is, the prevailing attitude is that adults have the capacity to make their own decisions, even bad or unwise ones.

That is, until you have proof that they don't have capacity, and the threshold for that is very high.

The trouble is that so little is known about the risks of surgery and hormone treatment that people can't actually give informed consent even if they wanted to.

I've seen so many heartbreaking videos of people talking about their reassignment surgery and they always say that they have been unlucky to have had loads of complications. This strongly suggests that horrible complications are the norm.

And if people were struggling before transition, add in the difficulties caused by things such as incontinence which can really affect people's confidence, relationships, work life etc.