When I was seven, I asked my mum if I could be a boy. I’m still not ultra-feminine, but I’m glad I wasn’t medicated to make my biological reality align with whatever inner experience I was having.
Treatments for gender dysphoria are distinct from other disorders in the sense that they centre on helping the patient live out their reality. The effects of medications used to start gender transitioning are also much more poorly understood than those used to treat more common psychological disorders. There is a troubling dearth of longitudinal research in relation to the use of puberty blockers in delaying normal onset puberty.
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Canada concedes: “Surprisingly, even though puberty blockers are widely used to help transgender adolescents go through gender transition, their impact on brain function during this critical stage of brain development is largely unknown.” We simply don’t know what some of the long-term implications are. In the short term, however, solid evidence is emerging that shows puberty blockers can cause dangerous bone density loss and irreversible brain changes.
Since the use of puberty blockers for helping children change their biological sex is an off-label use, there is far less accountability or regulation of dosages, age restrictions, timing and supplements to counteract side effects. It’s hard for parents to get a clear sense of the risks involved in the use of this medication when organisations such as the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne and the Raising Children Network continue to advise parents that the effects of puberty blockers are reversible.
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