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by all2 1163 days ago
If the point of gender affirming care (GAC) is to improve the mental health outcomes of the one being cared for, then it is a colossal waste of time. Mental health outcomes do not demonstrably improve after a person is placed on HRT and had their genitalia suitably modified. In fact, their long term health outcomes decline significantly later in life [0]. The suicide rate of transgender individuals is about 40%. This does not take into account whether they received GAC or not [1]. Per [0], even GAC does not improve late life all cause morbidity.

I oppose gender affirming care on the grounds that it does not effectively improve a person's life (which we can see over a 30 year period in [0]) and that it often requires damaging the delicate balance of the biological machine that is the human body.

If that makes me "stupid", so be it.

[0] https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... [1] https://www.thetrevorproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/... << Warning, PDF.

1 comments

Correct, that makes you stupid. Your premise is wrong (the correct endpoint is satisfaction and regret rates, since there are many confounding factors with something like mental health), your data doesn't show why you think it shows (the Sweden study was done in a time when the Swedish government mandated sterilization for trans people), and GAC changes the balance of the body much less than, say, lithium.

Next question?

GAC, by definition, sterilizes the person. Both on the hormonal front and, if they have bottom surgery, physically as well.

HRT vs lithium? Dunno, I'm not a doctor.

I do know that exogenous hormones can cause a body to stop producing the hormone, even at sub-clinical levels.

I also know that GAC surgeries cannot be undone. But you can stop taking lithium.

And all of this in the face of 40+% suicide rate that isn't affected by GAC in the slightest.

Who is the ideological one here?

The correct endpoint is satisfaction and regret rates. GAC has some of the highest satisfaction rates and lowest regret rates in all of medicine.

edit: I'm going to say this very slowly:

The Sweden study

about suicide rates

was done in a time

when the Swedish government

mandated sterilization

for trans people.

Does that help?

edit 2: since it's still not clear:

The

Sweden

study

about

suicide rates

was done

in a time

when

the Swedish government

mandated

sterilization

for

trans people.

The Sweden study is backed up by the Trevor Project (which I linked above somewhere) that shows as many as 80% of the transgender population have suicidal ideations and as many as 60% have attempted suicide. And this is from self-reporting. The stats aren't just from Sweden.
None of those stats are in the Trevor Project report. Cite the pages if you think they are, or surrender the argument.

It does say:

>Affirming gender identity among transgender and nonbinary youth is consistently associated with lower rates of suicide attempts.

And the report actually says nothing about transition healthcare.

A 40% attempted suicide rate does not suggest "satisfaction" to me. It suggests mental illness.
"seriously considered" != "attempted"

And the Trevor Project report shows a number of interventions that provide statistically significant reduction in suicidal ideation and attempts. I assume you support those interventions, since you seem extremely considered with the suicide rates of LGBTQ youth.

>GAC, by definition, sterilizes the person

That's crazy, my trans masc friend Kyle just carried a baby to term and delivered it, but to be fair I can't 100% confirm he didn't just hide a frozen turkey under his cardigan for 9 months