The New York Times (1/13, Ghorayshi) reports, “Clinicians are divided over new” draft guidelines saying that transgender “teens should undergo mental health screenings before receiving hormones or gender surgeries.” This comes as “an upsurge in teenagers requesting hormones or surgeries to better align their bodies with their gender identities has ignited a debate among” physicians and other healthcare professionals “over when to provide these treatments.” In the new 350-page guidelines, a “chapter dedicated to adolescents says that they must undergo mental health assessments and must have questioned their gender identity for ‘several years’ before receiving” surgeries or medications, a stance that has divided “experts in transgender health” and reflects “a fraught debate over how to weigh conflicting risks for young people, who typically can’t give full legal consent until they are 18 and who may be in emotional distress or more vulnerable to peer influence than adults are.”
Related Links:
— “Doctors Debate Whether Trans Teens Need Therapy Before Hormones “Azeen Ghorayshi, The New York Times, January 13, 2022