A recent study has found that the risk of suicide, self-harm, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for individuals who have undergone gender-transition surgeries is significantly higher than among those who have not had the surgery.
The study examined data from nearly 16 million U.S. adult patients between the ages of 18 and 60 who went to an emergency room for treatment from 2003 to 2023. This data came from a larger database of over 90 million patients from 56 health care facilities. Researchers isolated data from 1,501 patients who had undergone gender-transition surgery at some point in the five years before their emergency room visit and 15,608,363 patients who had no history of gender-transition surgery, as well as two additional control groups.
The data show that 3.47 percent of the patients who had undergone gender-reassignment surgery were treated for suicide attempts, compared to 0.29 percent of patients who did not have that history, a difference of 12.12 times.
While the study does not clarify at what age the patients attempted suicide or engaged in self-harm, it does make clear that it did not include minors.
The study lacks explanations as to why these patients had higher rates of suicidality, self-harm, and PTSD, and does not cite whether the patients suffered from adverse mental health conditions before surgery.
Implication for Minors
Julie Quist, board chair of the Child Protection League, said the results of the study were “deeply disturbing.”She also said it raises “serious implications” in the health industry, mental health industry, and education system, which have almost universally adopted the “affirmation only” approach as the best treatment for gender dysphoria in children and teens.
“This is a very credible study,” said Ms. Quist, referring to the large sample size and long timespan of the study.
She said she was stunned by the 12.12 times higher rate of suicide attempt risk, recalling how parents who are reportedly coerced into allowing their children to undergo these irreversible surgeries are often asked questions such as “do you want a daughter or do you want a dead son,” implying that if they don’t allow their child to medically transition, the child will be more likely to kill themselves.
“This is standard language that they use,” she said. “It’s beyond belief.”
Ms. Quist said she was also struck by the fact that the study avoided researching the rate of attempted suicide and self-harm among minors under the age of 18.
“This study has huge implications for minors,” she said.
If suicide attempts for those who have transitioned are happening at this rate among those over 18, she said it’s “counterintuitive” to assume that it’s not happening at the same, if not a higher, rate among children and teens.
‘The Elephant in the Room’
Vernadette Broyles is the founder, president, and general counsel for the Child and Parental Rights Campaign. She said it’s illogical to assume that minors who undergo gender transition through surgery or medication would wait until they were 18 to attempt suicide or self-harm.“Whatever dynamic that is present in adults stressing about their sexual transition would only be exacerbated in children because they are still in the process of development,” Ms. Broyles told The Epoch Times. “Just because the study didn’t include children under the age of 18 does not mean it has no relevance to children under the age of 18. I would expect a heightened effect among children because they’re emotionally and physically more vulnerable to negative impacts.”
While she said she was impressed that the researchers had the integrity to publish their findings, she also said she was disappointed by their attempt to explain, “without any valid evidence,” that the reason for the “alarmingly higher” rate of attempted suicide among those who had undergone these surgeries is related to minority bias, discrimination, and relational stresses.
“They pulled this out of thin air,” she argued. “There is no evidence to support that, and they’re choosing to ignore the elephant in the room—that the surgery itself is causing the suicide attempts.”
At a minimum, she said the study confirms that transitioning did not bring the happiness the patients were promised.
False Positives in Studies
The Trevor Project is a nonprofit advocacy organization focused on suicide prevention and crisis intervention among LGBT youth. Researchers from the organization published a study in 2021 in the Journal of Adolescent Health, concluding that minors who received “gender-affirming hormone therapy” had lower rates of depression and attempted suicide than those who wished to receive them but didn’t.But another study suggests that most minors experiencing gender confusion grow out of it by the time they reach adulthood.
Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands recently released the results of a study analyzing survey data from 2,772 adolescents over a span of 15 years, starting at age 11.
The study found that in early adolescence, 11 percent of participants reported “gender non-contentedness.” However, the prevalence had decreased to 4 percent by the time they reached the age of 26.
“Gender non-contentedness, while being relatively common during early adolescence, in general decreases with age and appears to be associated with a poorer self-concept and mental health throughout development,” the researchers concluded.
In March 2023, Daniel Jackson from the Norton College of Medicine at Upstate Medical University in New York published a review of 23 studies focused on “gender-affirming” treatments and suicidality.
Mr. Jackson found that the majority of the studies he reviewed indicated that “gender-affirming” treatments such as surgery, puberty blockers, and hormone therapy reduced the risk of suicide.
“However, the literature to date suffers from a lack of methodological rigor that increases the risk of type I error,” he said, referring to a false positive.
“There is a need for continued research in suicidality outcomes following gender-affirming treatment that adequately controls for the presence of psychiatric comorbidity and treatment, substance use, and other suicide risk-enhancing and reducing factors.”
‘A Very Public Scandal’
Dr. Patrick Lappert, a certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon of more than 25 years, said the findings of the University of Texas study are conclusive.“They looked at a large cohort of patients who had the fullness of affirmation care, including gender-affirmation surgery, and what they found is that persons who have had all of the affirmation care still have a suicidality of over 12-fold likelihood,” he told The Epoch Times.
With another study showing a higher rate of suicide attempts and death by suicide among those who undergo gender-reassignment surgery, Dr. Lappert said that doctors who perform these procedures can no longer claim that the treatments reduce suicidality.
For affirmation-only advocates who may point to the fact that the suicide rates in recent studies did not include minors, Dr. Lappert noted that gender affirmation is an “industrial process.”
“It starts with the young and very confused and it leads inexorably from one step to the next,” he said.
“They’re eventually going to have the surgery because they’ve been convinced that this is where their happiness lies,” Dr. Lappert said. “But then they will see in their own lives the harms that have happened because of what these clinics and doctors have been recommending.”
Dr. Lappert said it will become increasingly more difficult as individuals and parents start suing those who promote and perform these surgeries.
“The time for burial is over,” he said. “This is going to become a very public scandal now.”
While he said he doesn’t believe that the study proves that the surgery itself harmed or helped the individuals who attempted suicide, he said it does prove that “people who undergo transgender surgery are very likely to harm themselves.”
“If you think about it,” he added, “transgender surgery is a form of self-harm. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that people who do that to themselves when they run out of hope might kill themselves.”
“There are people who are suffering who want to be happy,” he explained, saying the transgender treatment industry tells them, “Here’s how we'll solve your sorrow.”
“They give them social affirmation. They provide them with a safe, affirming community to live in. They give them drugs and surgery,” he said.
“But when they run out of things to offer, the psychological problem is still there. They’ve never examined it. They’ve never asked themselves why a person would have gender dysphoria. They just affirm and bill, affirm and bill, and it’s a huge industry. But that will be coming to an end.”
