The Author of the Controversial Finnish Study on Youth Gender Care Responds to Critics
A new study found a surge in psych care typically reserved for severe mental health problems following gender-transition interventions in youth—prompting sharp pushback from transgender advocates.
Earlier this month, Finnish researchers published an analysis of national health records that found that the use of specialty psychiatric care, which they considered a proxy for serious mental health problems, surged among youth who underwent gender-transition interventions.
The study provoked a round of protestations and recriminations from advocates of pediatric gender medicine.
Prominent transgender activist and Substacker Erin Reed slapped one of her trademark “Fact check: false” red banners on the study, falsely asserting that its authors had claimed that gender care for youths doesn’t improve mental health outcomes. In a subtle but important distinction, the study authors did not use such causal language; they actually wrote that their analysis “does not support the suggested improvement in mental health af…
