A new study in NEJM concludes that trans and nonbinary teenagers who receive gender-affirming hormones experience less depression and anxiety and more satisfaction with life than before the treatment. This new study adds to a substantial body of research that shows gender-affirming care improves mental health and comes at a time when this care is being questioned, attacked, and in some states, banned.
The new research followed more than 300 adolescents across the U.S. for two years after initiating hormone treatments. It found that “nearly 70% of participants who started the study with severe depression saw it reduced to minimal or moderate after two years of hormone therapy and almost 40% of participants who started with clinical anxiety saw it reduced to non-clinical.”
Transgender youth experience disproportionate rates of poor mental health and suicide compared to their peers; this study confirms that appropriate medical care can help and must be protected.
