A New Study Shows Conservative Fears of “Transition Regret” Are Overblown

https://www.them.us/story/transition-regret-percentage-overblown-study

One of the things the anti-trans people like to push is the myth that many kids who identify as a different gender than the one assigned at birth simply grow out of it.   Their idea is these kids are brainwashed or conned into thinking they are a different gender.   That is wrong.   I had that idea pushed by an anti-trans person here on my blog and it did manage to create confusion and misinform some of my viewers.   I have made every effort to point out the truth of the situation, that what the right wing is pushing is a lie.   Science and real research show that about 98% of kids who have a different gender identification from birth assigned gender maintain that and are happy they transitioned.   That shoots down one of the biggest talking points of the TERFs and other anti-trans bigots.   If you are on the fence about trans issues because you doubt that gender identification can be different than assigned at birth gender, then you are part of the ones that claim that sexual orientation / attraction is a choice and a phase kids go through.   Just as time and medical studies have shown how completely wrong that is and that sexual attraction is a spectrum, the same is true with gender identification being separate from birth gender.   If you think it is being over blown because you are a cis straight person who did not have an issue with your gender or sexual orientation, think about how that is like a white person saying they think racism towards black people is over blown because you never felt it directed towards you in your life.   Hugs

In a large patient pool, 98% of trans youth who took puberty blockers ended up choosing hormone therapy.

 

BY SAMANTHA RIEDEL

October 27, 2022

Getty Images

The study, published October 20 in The Lancet, a prestigious and long-running medical journal, reviewed information from the Amsterdam Cohort of Gender Dysphoria about trans patients who took puberty blockers before turning 18. Researchers examined the medical records of 720 patients at Amsterdam UMC’s Center for Expertise on Gender Dysphoria who had historically received at least three months of puberty blockers as minors, and attempted to determine how many of those patients had an active prescription for hormone replacement therapy on file as of December 31, 2018.

 

 

Of the entire cohort, 704 were found to have active HRT prescriptions at the end of the data collection period — a massive 98% of the patients analyzed.

 

As for the remaining 2%, researchers cautioned that the absence of data doesn’t mean they necessarily returned to identifying with their gender assigned at birth; most of those 16 had undergone some form of gonadectomy as part of their transition-related care, researchers noted, and may not realize they still need hormone treatment to avoid osteoporosis or other conditions. Others could be nonbinary and not desire further hormonal treatment, or may have been pressured into halting treatment by outside stressors, such as unaccepting family members.

“I think it’s an important finding because we see that most of these people continue to use gender-affirming hormones,” said Marianne van der Loos, the paper’s lead author and a physician at Amsterdam UMC’s gender identity clinic, in an interview with NPR.

Her clinic emphasizes mental health care as a part of transitioning, van der Loos explained, so due to that support, “it’s not really surprising that so many people continue to [receive] treatment later on.” (Conversely, an American Medical Association report in February confirmed that lack of access to puberty blockers or hormone therapy was strongly correlated with poor mental health and suicidal ideation among trans youth.)

 

The Amsterdam study’s findings affirm previous research into the persistence of gender identity among trans youth, and illustrate some of the challenges in identifying why a small number of people halt or reverse their medical transitions. Another study of over 300 young people from the Princeton Trans Youth Project published in May indicated that around 97.5% persisted in identifying as trans and/or nonbinary at the end of a five-year study period.

These studies increasingly demonstrate that the ongoing conservative freakout over gender identity and trans “desistance” is, at best, a massive overreaction. In an interview on liberal comedian Jon Stewart’s show The Problem earlier this month, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge claimed that 98% of gender-dysphoric youth will eventually identify as cisgender — not only an “incredibly made-up” statistic, as Stewart noted, but per the Amsterdam and Princeton studies, precisely the inverse of what is true.

As trans youth around the world face opposition to their medical needs due to cisgender politicians’ ignorance and bigotry, it’s important to have as much information about our lived experiences as possible. The reality is that trans kids aren’t a “social contagion,” nor are they sad, deluded teenagers; they’re just young people who deserve care and support, like everyone else.