Yes
Because mental health is a scale, not 2 fixed points
I feel like I lack basic general knowledge
WORD ASSOCIATION - 9th May 2026
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Health
Transgender people who start hormones as teenagers rather than adults 'have better mental health’
(493 Posts)Transgender people who start their hormones as teenagers have “far better” mental health than if they wait until adulthood, new research says.
Experts have found that transgender people who begin hormone treatment in adolescence had fewer suicidal thoughts, were less likely to experience major mental health disorders and had fewer problems with substance abuse than those who started hormones later in life.
The study, which was led by the Stanford University School of Medicine, gathered data from the largest-ever survey of US transgender adults where 27,715 people responded in 2015.
Researchers found that, as well as fewer mental health concerns when taking the drugs as teenagers, those who took the drugs at any age had better mental health than those who wanted them but had never received them.
Of the people surveyed, 21,598 reported they had received the hormones they wanted. Of these people, 119 began hormones at age 14 or 15; 362 at age 16 and 17 and 12,157 following their 18th birthday.
Some 8,860 people surveyed said they wanted but never received hormone therapy and acted as the control group for the study.
Odds of severe psychological distress were reduced by 222 per cent, 153 per cent and 81 per cent for those who began hormones in early adolescence, late adolescence and adulthood, respectively.
Odds of feeling suicidal in the previous year were 135 per cent lower in those who began hormones in early adolescence, 62 per cent lower in those who began in late adolescence and 21 per cent lower in those who began as adults, compared with the control group.
Dr Jack Turban, lead author on the study and expert in paediatric and adolescent psychiatry at Stanford Medicine, said: “This study is particularly relevant now because many state legislatures are introducing bills that would outlaw this kind of care for transgender youth.
“We are adding to the evidence base that shows why gender-affirming care is beneficial from a mental health perspective.”
In the UK, hormone drugs can only be given to people from the age of 16 who have been on puberty blockers for at least 12 months.
Last September, the UK Court of Appeal overturned a judgment that children under the age of 16 considering gender reassignment were unlikely to be mature enough to give informed consent to be prescribed puberty-blocking drugs.
www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/transgender-hormones-teenager-mental-health-b1991724.html
I have just responded to a ‘demand’ from VS to go back to something she thought I’d missed. Was that bullying?
If someone posts something that needs clarification (eg statistics that don’t stand up on their own), others surely have a right to ask for clarification? The alternative is to have people just shouting their point and walking away. That’s not a discussion- it’s a list of points of view.
OK doodledog
Doodledog
I have just responded to a ‘demand’ from VS to go back to something she thought I’d missed. Was that bullying?
If someone posts something that needs clarification (eg statistics that don’t stand up on their own), others surely have a right to ask for clarification? The alternative is to have people just shouting their point and walking away. That’s not a discussion- it’s a list of points of view.
Agree with this. On other threads posters have been accused of bullying when they challenge others political opinions when given as facts. Disagreeing is not bullying. Asking for clarification is not bullying.
And I still maintain that having doubts about when to start hormone treatment is NOT being transphobic, nor is wishing to reserve the right to be called women rather than cis gender.
Hounding people like j k Rowling and many university lecturers is IMO bullying.
I hope I don’t need to clarify that I am absolutely not transphobic
Thank you, Lucca. The accusation of bullying is a serious one, and I take exception to being (implicitly or otherwise) accused of it.
I try to be as patient as I can on these threads, even when every attempt to give an alternative point of view is shut off with cries of bullying, hostility, bickering and so on.
No Debate is the mantra of a lot of the TRA movement, and fortunately a lot of women are pushing back. I will not allow myself to be forced off these threads with 'don't engage' suggestions, twisting of what I say and accusations of bullying or hostility.
I usually hold back on threads like this, but am so fed up with the misrepresentation of posts, the diversions into other areas, the spurious links with Nazis or homophobes and general disingenuousness that I decided at the start to pick up on these things if and when they apply to my posts. I'm sorry if that makes the thread boring for others, but given that the thread was unlikely to become a real discussion (because of the nature of the article in the OP, never mind the constant attempts to stop disagreement in its tracks) I thought it was a price worth paying.
Morning Doodledog!
I said I’d come back to peep at this thread ?
As always, I’m not at all surprised to see it’s descended into a bun fight. No wonder many posters don’t engage in these threads.
It’s the last time I’ll bother.
?
Urmstongran
Morning Doodledog!
I said I’d come back to peep at this thread ?
As always, I’m not at all surprised to see it’s descended into a bun fight. No wonder many posters don’t engage in these threads.
It’s the last time I’ll bother.
?
Why even bother to post that ?
Would you describe my post and Doodledog recent ones as a bunfight ? Or violetsky’s come to that ?
It has descended into acrimony, yes. I said as much upthread, and have apologised for my role in that, which I have acknowledged.
I'm not going to repeat my post above, but I gave my reasons in that. It feels that the alternative to pointing out misrepresentations etc is to passively allow misinformation to be spread, and I'm not going to do that.
Oh, and 'bunfight' is a bit like 'bickering' - words used to women when they make a stand.
No one has shown hostility towards pro-trans posters gagajo.
I and others have merely questioned the validity of the statements made in the newspaper article you posted, to which so far you haven’t responded.
Was this supposed to be a pro-trans thread? According to the title, I thought it was about giving teenagers life altering hormones so they will have fewer mental health problems.
That turned out to be not necessarily true and didn’t include the fact mentioned later, that any children bullied at school could have worse mental health problems as adults.
Silencing prohibit or prevent from speaking
Where has this happened? To whom, by whom?
Who has asked GJ to give in to any kind of pressure?
This is a thread of anonymous posters. The only possible ‘silencing’ is getting posts or threads deleted.
If the ‘hostility’ is present, it can be applied equally e.g. I could say
“I definitely think that the hostility shown towards” anyone who raises issues about some aspects of the behaviour of some trans “is an attempt to shut us up or drive us away from commenting/posting”.
I’m trying to find where anyone has started an anti-trans thread.
janeainsworth
No one has shown hostility towards pro-trans posters gagajo.
I and others have merely questioned the validity of the statements made in the newspaper article you posted, to which so far you haven’t responded.
JA, if I had the inclination to go through this whole thread (which I 100% don't), I could clips sections of hostility and aggression. They are frequent on trans threads.
The sad thing is, there is no need. We are just talking.
I found the stats online. I'm not going back and looking for them again.
The real fact of the matter is that none of us are experts in this field. So requiring 'evidence' from laypeople is pointless, because the next step on from that is that the 'evidence' will be pulled apart and argued about.
Next time I post a statistic, I will try to remember to add the link. But don't expect an argument about it. I'm not doing it.
Going back to the original post, what the study quoted shows, and what I think we're all in agreement about, is that early support is what is needed for trans teenagers/children.
What that support is and what is or isn't acceptable / at what age, is different and we hold differing opinions about that.
It in a sense it doesnt matter what our differing opinions are. It matters what the latest evidence shows and it appears long term research is thin on the ground.
JA, if I had the inclination to go through this whole thread (which I 100% don't), I could clips sections of hostility and aggression. They are frequent on trans threads
Ok gj I get it.
You can accuse other posters of hostility and bullying, but you can’t be bothered to justify your remarks.
We on the other hand, are expected to just accept dubious journalistic claims, which misrepresent academic papers, without question. You posted this article without any remarks of your own, which rather suggests that you endorse the article, rather than the actual research, and then somehow translate criticism of the article into hostility towards pro-trans posters.
Please don’t pretend you ‘just’ posted the article.
You've nailed it, Janeainsworth.
Exactly Jeanainsworth.
I could, if I had the inclination, (which I 100% don’t), look back on this sort of thread and find accusations of transphobia aimed at anyone who questions anything by a pro-trans poster. But evidently, we are just ‘*talking*, so that’s OK then.
I've stayed off this thread because it will as usual become those who claim to not be transphobic but who constantly post their misgivings and those who actually think care and consideration are what matters for transgender people. But as usual the anti-trans lot have totally subverted the actual subject. So lets get this straight this is about treating adolescents with hormones that enable them to become the gender they feel they are. It is not about surgery or even about life altering decisions. Hormone treatment is largely reversible. If the adolescent regrets the decison all they will have to do is stop the treatment. There are transmen who have had hormone treatment and upper body surgery who have gone on to give birth when they stopped hormone treatment. So lets acknowledge that for some adolescents taking hormones may get them through a very difficult period in their lives and enable them to be happier. The issue of if they continue with surgery or even if they remain transgender is largely irrelevant.
Welcome trisher. Hormone treatment is largely reversible
So it’s OK if it only harms a few. Thanks for that.
Have there been longitudinal studies with enough respondents to verify the claims that hormone treatment is largely irreversible? We know, for instance that large doses of oestrogen in childhood can increase breast cancer in women. I don't know about its impact on men, or of testosterone on young female bodies when they are adults.
What is meant by 'largely irreversible'? Does that mean the most of the effects are reversed on one body, or that most bodies can recover but some (in the 'not largely' category) suffer from considerable ill-effects?
I get so tired of my words being twisted and misrepresented, that along with ignoring points I am able to back up with evidence makes for a very boring and repetitive discussion.
Not the most productive way to spend my spare time honestly
Thank you Gagajo for posting. I have discovered that there are pro trans members on gransnet, more than comment on these threads in total so that gives me hope
Thanks Trisher. Yes, anti trans cancel culture is alive and thriving.
So hormones are a minor stage (end stage for some) of treatment.
Takes 5 years or so to get to that point anyway. So a 13 year old seeking help would likely be 18 before they accessed hormones.
VioletSky
I get so tired of my words being twisted and misrepresented, that along with ignoring points I am able to back up with evidence makes for a very boring and repetitive discussion.
Not the most productive way to spend my spare time honestly
Which of your words have been twisted, VS.
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