EUROPE: “epidemic-like phenomenon” among youth seeking transgender medical interventions

Across Europe there’s a rapid “epidemic-like” increase in gender dysphoria among youth. In some countries there has been a startling 1,500 percent increase in gender dysphoria diagnoses among 13- to 17-year-old girls. Experts believe this could be tied to social media usage and social contagion. We also believe the mainstream media and governments are responsible for pushing extreme gender ideology onto young children and teens.

At last, medical professionals are starting to speak out and push back against hormone and surgical interventions for youth.

In a statement addressing transgender treatments for children, National Academy of Medicine in France acknowledged an “epidemic-like phenomenon” among adolescents seeking transgender medical interventions — puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, and invasive surgeries — which it said could be tied to social media usage and social contagion.

The academy has rightly called for medical practitioners to exercise “the greatest caution” in administering puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to youth struggling with gender dysphoria. It said medical workers who administer hormone treatments should consider the side effects, including growth impact, bone weakening, sterility, emotional and intellectual consequences, and for girls, menopause-like symptoms. Medical workers should strongly emphasise that surgeries such as mastectomies or genitalia-altering procedures are irreversible.

Medical groups and establishments in multiple countries are recommending psychological and psychiatric support as the first line of treatment. But in the United States, by contrast, the medical establishment continues to promote an “affirmation-only” model of treating childhood gender dysphoria while stifling debate over evidence-based treatments.

In the UK, a review commissioned by The National Health Service found that clinicians often “feel under pressure to adopt an unquestioning affirmative approach … at odds with the standard process of clinical assessment and diagnosis.”

We need to closely monitor developments in New Zealand, to see how our own medical establishment manages the increase in gender dysphoria among youth – do they follow the lead of Europe in pushing back against hormone and surgical interventions for youth. Or do they follow the United States with an “affirmation-only” model. The New Zealand Government certainly chose the “affirmation-only” model when it came to the law on ‘Conversion Therapy’, so hopefully our medical establishment will not do the same for treatment of gender dysphoria.