Liberal Forum

So we can NOW assume you SUPPORT THIS TOO, GROOMERS!!




England’s National Health Service made the major announcement last week that they would limit the prescription of puberty-blocking drugs for transgender children to clinical trials.

 A report released by the NHS on June 9 states that “there is not enough evidence to support their safety or clinical effectiveness as a routinely available treatment and that they should only be accessed as part of research.”

 The decision is the latest consequence of a multi-year review into how the medical community in England should treat children who suffer from gender dysphoria. The NHS launched the review in response to skyrocketing numbers of children seeking care for gender distress, particularly young females, the rise of gender dysphoric patients with coexisting mental health conditions, and the overall lack of conclusive evidence to dictate best practices.

 A previous report led to the impending closure of the Tavistock Centre, a Gender and Identity Development Service (GIDS), due to evidence that the clinic was reflexively affirming children’s stated gender identities while overlooking their other health care issues, such as mental health disorders. Tavistock was also accused of not keeping consistent records and data on the children who received treatments there. A study on Tavistock patients further found that children who went on puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria did not report better psychological scores. Dr. Hilary Cass, the pediatrician overseeing the NHS review, expressed concern that rather than giving children time to figure out their gender identity, puberty blockers may actually be locking them into a gender transition.

 England is not alone in pumping the brakes on gender transitions for minors, a medical practice that has become euphemistically known as “gender-affirming care”.

 Finland started advising doctors not to prescribe puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones as a first-line of treatment for gender dysphoric children in 2020. Instead, medical practitioners are told to focus on psychotherapy and only provide medical intervention in limited, extreme cases. Surgical sex changes for minors are banned. The Finnish guidelines note that any benefits of puberty suppression are unproven and may impact brain maturity, thus lessening the ability of young patients to properly consent to subsequent gender treatments.

 Sweden was the first country to introduce legal gender reassignment, but in 2019, a report commissioned by the Swedish government reviewed all available studies and ultimately found a lack of evidence for gender transition treatments for minors. Two years later, Sweden’s Karolinska Hospital stopped prescribing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones entirely. Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare later unveiled a similar policy, limiting cross-sex hormones for children to rare cases and surgical intervention to research settings.

 
 

Last summer, France urged “great medical caution” in pursuing gender treatments for minors because of the psychological vulnerability of these children and the potentially irreversible side effects of medicines and surgery.

“If France allows the use of puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones with parental authorization and no age limitations, the greatest caution is needed in their use, taking into account the side effects such as the impact on growth, bone weakening, risk of sterility, emotional and intellectual consequences and, for girls, menopause-like symptoms,” the French National Academy said, according to a translation published by National Review.

Further, France noted that there is currently no way to determine which patients have persistent gender dysphoria and which have transient adolescent dysphoria, which typically dissipates post-puberty. This means there is a real “risk of over-diagnosis,” the French National Academy asserts.

And while Norway’s government agency has not made any changes to its policy on gender transitions for minors, the Norwegian Healthcare Investigation Board, an independent body, recommended earlier this year to label puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgical sex changes “experimental” or “exploratory” treatments.

The shifting standard of care across Europe is significant because this was the first wave of countries to subscribe to what’s known as the “Dutch Model” or “Dutch Protocol”. The Dutch Model was spurred by a small study of seventy patients in the Netherlands released in 2011 that found “behavioral and emotional problems and depressive symptoms decreased, while general functioning improved significantly” when adolescents who had persistent gender dysphoria underwent puberty suppression.

Despite being lauded as the gold standard of transgender research, the study has several notable drawbacks. First, youth patients who used puberty blockers in the Netherlands also received intense psychotherapy, meaning it’s impossible to distinguish which treatment actually caused the improved mental health outcomes. Second, the participants in the study were chosen retrospectively and non-randomly; the study only evaluated youth who were approved to continue on to cross-sex hormones. Individuals who discontinued treatment for a variety of reasons — including harm from the puberty blockers or a resolution of their gender dysphoria — were excluded from the analysis, which skewed the results. The study also relied on a flawed questionnaire to make the claim that gender dysphoria improved among participants.

Also important is that the Dutch study did not weigh whether the perceived benefits to a dysphoric youth’s mental health outweighed the negative physical side effects. One subject was excluded from the study because they died from a failed vaginoplasty.

Aside from all of these issues with the research, Dutch gender experts have warned that their model cannot be applied properly without a strict assessment of patients. In the Netherlands, minors who receive medical intervention for gender distress must have had persistent dysphoria since before puberty, must be free of other psychiatric issues, and must have the support of their families. The author of the infamous Dutch study has even said her research likely does not apply to the large number of teens seeking sex changes today.
 

we're too stupid to follow suit...it'll be the balls out push here to try and prove Europe wrong, then tuck our tails and realize they were right after thousands upon thousands of lives are forever ruined...

Ever notice how the “progressive” left always want to mimic white European countries? They never want to mimic what brown countries do, yet they supposedly love them more than anyone. Isn’t that fascinating?

ROG62 » 18 Jun 2023, 8:06 am » wrote: ↑

18 Jun 2023, 8:06 am

we're too stupid to follow suit...it'll be the balls out push here to try and prove Europe wrong, then tuck our tails and realize they were right after thousands upon thousands of lives are forever ruined...

They love proving how "progressive" they are and at the expense of destroying the lives of our children so they come to hate their parents and then seek GOVERNMENT to resolve their conflicts in ALL THEY DO!!

It's called NAZISM and CONTROL from the LWNJ party.

Beekeeper » 18 Jun 2023, 8:29 am » wrote: ↑

18 Jun 2023, 8:29 am

They love proving how "progressive" they are and at the expense of destroying the lives of our children so they come to hate their parents and then seek GOVERNMENT to resolve their conflicts in ALL THEY DO!!

It's called NAZISM and CONTROL from the LWNJ party.

what goes around, comes around...