Puberty blockers are also known to cause depression and suicidality in adults [12] treated for issues ranging from prostate cancer to endometriosis.
When children are left to complete puberty normally, 73% - 94% resolve their gender dysphoria (”desistance”) by the time they reach adulthood [2][26].
When children are put on puberty blockers, 98-100% of them continue to cross-sex hormones and/or surgery. [2][8]
Of those whose gender dysphoria desists (resolves itself), a significant percentage of them grow up to be gay [2][13]. Those whose dysphoria continues into adulthood are often from a lower socioeconomic class. [13]
Autism, ADHD, depression, and anxiety also are often co-morbid with gender dysphoria, though there is no clear understanding of what mechanism might link these [14][15].
A course of puberty blockers and hormones virtually guarantee loss of sexual function and sterility, even with no surgery introduced [7][3][9][26][27].
For girls on testosterone, surgical removal of the reproductive system will be necessary, or it will be in danger of it atrophying[5]. Buck Angel, a prominent transman, was hospitalized and nearly died of sepsis from atrophy, as an example [16 - warning: graphic medical images].
Some of the doctors who developed the puberty blocker protocol have spoken out against their proliferation and misuse[19] [20].
Finland changed their pediatric gender guidelines in 2021 to emphasize psychosocial support over medical intervention, in all but the most extreme cases[18], due to the emerging evidence against the efficacy of puberty blockers.
Also in 2021, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service commissioned the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to conduct an independent review of the evidence for pediatric gender transition. [1]
Their results found that the available evidence for the efficacy of medical transition to be very low. They also found that the available studies themselves are of low quality, meaning they are flawed in their design or implementation.
Of the studies’ flaws, the two biggest are (1) lack of a control group, which means that we can’t know how well the children being studied would have done without intervention, and (2) the extreme loss to follow up. In other words, the majority of patients treated medically do not follow up with their doctors, and so the data we have forms a very incomplete picture, leaving out the patients who are most likely to be unsatisfied.
Notably, a common theme among detransitioners [30][31][32](of all ages) is a reluctance to go back to the doctors who treated them [34][29].
Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare recently updated their guidance on treating childhood gender dysphoria to preclude puberty blockers in all but the most extreme cases[17], due in large part to emerging data on the risks of these drugs.
In 2022, France has indicated a similar reversal of emphasizing psychosocial support over medical intervention. Medical intervention should be treated as a last resort for the most serious of cases.[28]
There are, additionally, a lot of adult trans voices who are concerned over the medicalization of childhood gender dysphoria. [21][22][23][25]