Study: Finnish youth more likely to see psychiatric specialists after gender treatments

Young Finns suffering from gender dysphoria see psychiatric specialists at higher rates after receiving gender treatments than before, according to a new study. That study, which appeared in the medical journal Acta Paediatrica, tracked the psychiatric treatment needs of more than 2,000 individuals who attended gender-identity clinics between 1996 and 2019, while they were under the age of 23. Researchers say they chose that age as a cutoff because it’s a generally accepted benchmark for identity development.

According to the study, nearly 50% of youth suffering from gender dysphoria saw a psychiatric specialist before they were ever referred for gender treatment, compared with just 15% of youth who did not suffer from gender dysphoria. But the study found that the number rose significantly after youth suffering from gender dysphoria were referred for gender treatments. According to the study, 61.7% of the patients diagnosed with gender dysphoria received psychiatric care from a specialist two or more years after their referral to a gender clinic. In comparison, just over 14% of peers in a control group saw a psychiatric specialist in the same time frame. Young people who sought hormonal and surgical interventions to appear like the opposite sex showed higher rates of specialist visits, rising from 9.8% to 60.7% among men and from 21.6% to 54.5% among women.

What were some of the study's limitations? The study did not analyze what type of psychiatric care patients received. Finland’s gender identity treatment system requires psychiatric evaluations. The study did not count appointments with hospitals’ gender identity psychiatrists in its tally. But it also did not include information on whether the patients’ visits to specialists were part of gender identity treatment or were for an unrelated psychiatric issue.

Dig deeper: Read Liz Lykins’ report on a judge’s ruling that the U.S. Health Department didn’t follow proper procedure when advising against transgender procedures for minors.