To the editor:
MYTH: Eighty percent of young people who identified as transgender later changed their identity back to cisgender.
BACKGROUND: Reported cases of transgender children detransitioning come from four clinics studying this before 2013. Parents in these studies reported their children to clinics as gender nonconforming due to instances of boys playing with dolls and girls being tomboyish. These children were not self-identifying that they felt different than their sex identified at birth. Their parents were feeling anxious observing their children being comfortable playing in ways not considered the norm at the time and bringing their children into a clinic to discuss this.
Parents who were comfortable with their child’s play and identity let their children socially transition to the gender with which they felt most aligned. It is most likely that these parents did not participate in the cited studies as they did not bring their children into the clinic for a consultation.
A current online search shows: “In a review of 27 studies involving almost 8,000 teens and adults who had transgender surgeries, mostly in Europe, the U.S and Canada 1% on average expressed regret.”
Debunking Bottom Line: The initial claim that 80 percent of transgender minors regret treatment is erroneous. Current research shows that only one percent of transgender minors voice regret medically transitioning.
Thanks to Ephraim Schwartz and Ray Garnett for the above research.
Alyson Slutzky, MSW, LICSW
Egremont
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