Heal the mind rather than cut the body

A trope repeated by media and politicians is “gender affirmative care saves lives.” But yet another study has just been released proving that "gender affirmation" does more harm than good.

Trans allies and activist doctors ask parents of transgender identifying youth the shocking question, “Would you rather have a living son than a dead daughter?”

A trope that is being repeated by media and politicians is “gender affirmative care saves lives.”

Across the legacy (but dying) media they push this narrative.

Here’s an article from Stuff relating to the painting of the rainbow crossings – in fact this paragraph was repeated in a couple of articles on this issue from different media.

“We know for a fact, people in rainbow communities have higher suicide rates than the general community, and any kind of public support or sign that shows we are welcome helps to mitigate the general negativity that often society shows to us.”

The problem with that claim and the conclusion that they draw, and which the media parrots ad nauseum, is that it has no credibility.

And yet another study has just been released proving once again that the statement has no credibility and actually does more harm than good.

Before I get to the latest study, state funded Radio NZ were back on the propaganda train two weeks ago with a very long piece entitled “One in five trans and non-binary people threatened with physical violence”.

Typically, it only gave one side of the story – and pushed the basic narrative that trying to change your sex is completely normal and if you believe that you are born male or female, that you can’t choose your sex, that only women can get pregnant, that dudes should not be playing in women’s sports, and that boys should not be in girl’s changing rooms – then you are the problem, and that your personal convictions based on biology are leading to violence and harm.

Let’s check a bit of it

Almost one in five trans and non-binary** New Zealanders were threatened with physical violence because of their gender identity in the past four years. Close to one in 10 (8 percent) experienced deliberate physical violence…

Alongside high levels of violence and discrimination faced by trans and non-binary people, the second Counting Ourselves* survey reveals "alarmingly high" rates of psychological distress and suicidality, and persistent significant healthcare inequities.

The article then shares a number of quotes saying that “feels like there's been a significant increase in anti-trans sentiment in the past year, both here in Aotearoa and internationally.”

The only problem with that narrative is that the survey wasn’t done last year. It was done in 2022. It’s just the report that was released now. Guess who the US President was then in 2022? Yes – not Trump. Guess who the NZ Deputy Prime Minister was then. Yes – not Winston Peters. Whoops.

Let’s come back to the "alarmingly high" rates of psychological distress and suicidality, because Radio NZ and Counting Ourselves are unable to connect some dots.

But the whole story is based on a self selected survey – the “Counting Ourselves survey” and policy which comes out of the University of Waikato’s Trans Health Research Lab – the unit which is driven by activists – and is closely – very closely – affiliated with the now discredited WPATH – the group which has misled countries around the world with their transgender guidelines, but they’ve now been well and truly busted.

The CASS review which came out of the UK completely destroyed any shred of credibility that WPATH may have had left.

As we reported with their previous surveys, the Counting Ourselves study is weak in a number of areas, including:

• not a random sample – all participants solicited by interest groups “For this second survey, our online social media recruitment moved beyond Facebook to use Instagram too, and we also created two YouTube videos. We asked trans and non-binary community leaders and members to share an image of themselves and a quote explaining the importance of the survey to them and our communities. no control group”

• all surveys were completed online and anonymous with limited ability to verify accuracy of responses

• not representative of ethnic breakdown in NZ

• there was a significant drop-off of responses as the questionnaire progressed. Only 70% of participants completed the entire survey

• researchers have a conflict of interest

• the researchers confuse the ‘wait-and-see’ approach or the cautious approach on changing genders as “conversion therapy”, which it isn’t (an example of research bias)

56% of the 2,631 people who completed the survey were non-binary. Not trans women or trans men. Just non-binary.

Among non-binary participants, more than three-quarters (78%) were biological females.

But here’s the real issue:

· 77% of participants reported high or very high psychological distress, compared to only 12% of the general population.

· In the previous 12 months, half of participants (50%) had deliberately injured themselves, and over half (53%) had seriously considered suicide at least once. One in ten (10%) had attempted suicide in the past year.

· use of cannabis in the last year (43%) was almost three times that of the general population (15%)

· Rates of use of amphetamines, hallucinogens, and other non-prescription substances were at least three times that of the general population

· 16% had been prostitutes

· 64% of all trans men (so biological women) and 44% of all non-binary biological women (AFAB) participants had an unmet need for chest reconstruction (chopping off the breasts) and 51% of all trans women (biological men) had an unmet need for vaginoplasty (chopping off healthy penises in order to create a vagina.

So – psychological distress, suicide ideation, drug use, prostitution, wanting to cut and mutilate their own health bodies.

Here’s what Counting Ourselves and the media will never tell you.

There is a large correlation between people who have other mental health diagnosis and gender dysphoria. Causality is the claim but is never adequately addressed in the studies cited. Yes – the statistics of suicidal thoughts and actions are higher in the LGBT community BUT we need to ask if it’s the lack of “affirmation” and phobia (despite the fact that the marketing campaign for the LGBT community by the cultural elite, media and politicians is off the charts and if you don’t buy in, your ostracised and cancelled) – does the so-called homophobia and transphobia cause the suicide, or is it a symptom of another mental health issue, such as depression or anxiety or autism or trauma or drug use or prostitution or suicide ideation or many other issues.

We would argue it’s definitely the latter.

Sexuality and gender confusion is depressing and stressful.

How can I say this? Because it’s what the research shows.

One of the few rigorous studies, which was completed in Sweden, followed a transgender group of adults from 1973-2003. This study found:

Persons with transsexualism, after sex reassignment, have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behaviour, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population. Our findings suggest that sex reassignment, although alleviating gender dysphoria, may not suffice as treatment for transsexualism, and should inspire improved psychiatric and somatic care [restore the natural balance within the body-mind system to resolve physical and mental stress) after sex reassignment for this patient group.

In other words, the surgery didn’t solve the mental health issues. No surprise.

A more recent study which I’ve already told you about is from the beginning of last year from Finland. Now remember that the mainstream media were silent on this research – their silence was deafening – because they don’t want to tell you about these types of studies. It goes against the mainstream narrative. But this Finnish study found that the suicide risk in a large group of adolescents was predicted by the psychiatric problems that often accompany gender distress, not by the gender distress itself.

Let me repeat that - the suicide risk in a large group of adolescents was predicted by the psychiatric problems that often accompany gender distress, not by the gender distress itself.

As commentator Bernard Lane said

Dramatic claims of the risk of attempted suicide among trans-identifying youth are typically based on low-quality anonymous online self-report surveys with no follow-up checks, potential exaggeration driven by a constant “transition or suicide” narrative, and “convenience samples” unlikely to be representative.

Sounds just like the Counting Ourselves survey eh

But just as the Swedish study had found, the Finnish study said:

… “Although the rate of suicide [in the Finnish study] is just over four times higher among trans young people than their peers, this is explained by their more serious psychiatric problems. When these psychiatric problems are taken into account, there is no evidence that transgender people have a higher rate of suicide.”

This Finnish study vindicates their decision four years ago to adopt a more cautious treatment policy which first targets psychiatric, social and educational problems among gender-distressed youth before any assumption of a stable trans identity justifying “experimental” affirmation with hormones or surgery.

The researchers say in their BMJ Mental Health paper; “It is of utmost importance to identify and appropriately treat mental disorders in adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria to prevent suicide; in addition, health policies need to ensure that accurate information is provided to professionals along these lines,”

And they studied more than 2,000 gender-referred teens between 1996 and 2019 – 23 years – AND a control group (which many of the pro-trans studies don’t have.)

In other words, the main predictor of mortality in this population is psychiatric morbidity, and medical gender reassignment does not have an impact on suicide risk. That’s the words of the researchers.

But here’s the latest research.

The study was by researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas, and was published in Oxford’s Journal of Sexual Medicine. They sampled 107,583 patients.

They wanted to “evaluate mental health outcomes in transgender individuals with gender dysphoria who have undergone gender-affirming surgery, stratified by gender and time since surgery.

They argued that Transgender individuals face heightened psychological distress, including depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, partly due to stigma and lack of gender affirmation.

Mental health outcomes included depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, substance use disorder, and body dysmorphic disorder, assessed over two years post-surgery.

They say in the introduction

Despite increasing support for gender-affirming medical interventions to alleviate distress in transgender individuals experiencing gender incongruence, the long-term mental health outcomes associated with these interventions remain largely unclear. Much of the available research is based on small sample sizes, cross-sectional designs, and self-reported data on treatment exposure and mental health outcomes, which can introduce biases and limit the reliability of findings. A meta-analysis of small-scale studies, primarily cross-sectional, suggested a positive association between self-reported hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgery with improved mental health outcomes. However, these studies are often limited by short follow-up periods and lack of control for confounding variables, making it challenging to establish causative links over time.

Gender-affirming surgical procedures for biological females primarily included mastectomy (chest masculinisation surgery) while for biological men wanting to be women, this encompassed a range of feminizing procedures such as tracheal shave, breast augmentation, and vaginoplasty – which, guys, would make your eyes water just thinking about.

One thing I noticed was that of the 107,000 patients with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, only 12% had got to the cutting of the body stage. Partly because it’s expensive, not many medical professionals want to be involved in destroying healthy body parts, and basically it’s a radical procedure, rightly so.

But also interesting was that there were people in the study who underwent masculinising or feminising gender-affirming surgery where there was a lack of documented diagnosis of gender dysphoria!

So no documented problem, but they went ahead with the chopping anyway.

So what did they find?

They found that those undergoing surgery were at significantly higher risk for depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and substance use disorders than those without surgery.

They found that sex-change surgery doubles depression rates among gender dysphoric individuals rather than reducing them.

Males who underwent surgery had a depression rate of 25.4%, compared to 11.5% in those who did not have surgery. Likewise, females who underwent surgery had a depression rate of 22.9%, compared to 14.6% in those who did not.

Feminizing individuals demonstrated particularly high risk for depression and substance use disorders.

They conclude –

“Findings suggest the necessity for gender-sensitive mental health support following gender-affirming surgery to address post-surgical psychological risks.”

Sound familiar?

Perhaps the mental health support should come first.

Rather than cutting the body, heal the mind.

Just as we would do for someone with anorexia nervosa or body integrity dysphoria (BIID), a rare mental condition that causes people to want to amputate a healthy limb or body part.

In the Texas study, interestingly, despite the mental anguish, the researchers still say “these individuals [who had the surgery] generally experience satisfaction with their body image and surgical outcomes.”

Just as someone with anorexia nervosa will starve their body physically. They’re happy with the physical thinness, but mentally we would all agree they are not well.

Now the study has had some criticism with critics saying that those with stronger gender dysphoria and more psychiatric issues may elect to undergo surgery. They argue that people willing to get bottom surgery are more dysphoric, thus more depressed by their condition, hence the higher rate of depression in the second group.

Isn’t that an argument for not cutting the body but rather healing the mind?

But interestingly, the researchers tackled this, saying

By excluding patients with documented pre-existing mental health diagnoses, this study sought to ensure that identified mental health outcomes likely represented new or emergent conditions [after the surgery] rather than pre-existing disorders.

Now you won’t hear about this study. And I bet you probably didn’t read about the Finnish one last year or the earlier Swedish one.

The legacy media don’t want you to know about these studies. They destroy their narrative and the narrative of gender activists.

Interestingly, Counting Ourselves in their conclusion call for this:

Make all types of gender affirming healthcare more available through the public health system.

Perhaps they should go back to the drawing board and check the credible research coming from overseas before making a bad situation for the people they want to support even worse.

We should heal the mind, not cut the body.

Oh – by the way – I almost forgot to tell you – I actually completed the survey.

It shows you just how weak the whole survey process is, how open to abuse it can be by activists who want to push a certain narrative – and why we should ignore anything that comes out of Counting Ourselves and the University of Waikato’s Trans Health Research Lab.