SEGM News | SEGM

January 16, 2022

WPATH SOC8 Draft Guideline

SEGM critiques "Standards of Care" 8 for its lack of methodological rigor

The Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) welcomes WPATH SOC8’s acknowledgement of the profound shift in the incidence of gender dysphoria/gender incongruence and its presentation among youth, and the acknowledgement of the risk of inappropriate medical transition of youth. We also...

December 23, 2021

Case Study Considers Detransition

Therapist critiques "gender-affirmative" care model for youth

What happens when a young person's intensely experienced desire to undergo medical transition is granted, with minimal attention paid to the factors contributing to the development of gender dysphoria, and with no attempts to ameliorate the distress non-invasively first? A new publication, ...

December 8, 2021

Psychotherapy for Children and Adolescents with Gender Dysphoria

Psychologist advocates for psychotherapy rather than pharmacological and surgical interventions

In "Clinical and Ethical Considerations in the Treatment of Gender Dysphoric Children and Adolescents: When Doing Less Is Helping More," psychologist David Schwartz, Ph.D. exhorts clinicians to treat children and adolescents with gender dysphoria using psychotherapy rather than pharmacological...

November 7, 2021

First Mental Health Guideline to Explicitly Deviate from Gender Affirmation

Australia and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists recognizes that gender dysphoria can arise from multiple causes

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) released its first position statement addressing the mental health needs of people with Gender Dysphoria/Gender Incongruence. This new statement is the first position statement released by a professional body, as far as we...

November 2, 2021

Gender-Dysphoric Adolescents and Gender Transition Regret: What We Don't Know

The Lancet debate on gender-dysphoric youth: getting the facts right

Recently, The Lancet published an editorial defending broad availability of medicalization of gender-dysphoric youth. The editorial was written in response to several US bills that aim to limit the use of hormones and surgery in minors. It asserted that hormonal and surgical interventions for...

October 18, 2021

Growing Focus on Detransition

A new study suggests that detransitioners have complex problems not solved by transition and that the prevalence of detransition may be underestimated

A new study of individuals who medically or surgically transitioned and subsequently detransitioned, suggests that the rate of detransition may be significantly underestimated. According to the study, which examined the survey responses of 100 detransitioners, fewer than 1 in 4 notified their...

September 9, 2021

All Six of Sweden's Pediatric Clinics Meet to Discuss a Cautious Stance Toward Pediatric Gender Transitions

All but one clinic agree transitions should happen only in "exceptional cases" outside of clinical trials, as they await new official guidance due later this year

According to a recently published medical news article in Sweden, representatives of all of Sweden's six university clinics that treat children...

August 9, 2021

The AAP Silences the Debate on How to Best Care for Gender-Diverse Kids

American Academy of Pediatrics annual 2021 conference blocks SEGM’s participation

Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) rejected SEGM’s application to share the latest evidence regarding the practice of pediatric gender transition at AAP's upcoming annual conference in Philadelphia in October 2021. This rejection sends a strong signal that the AAP does not...

August 9, 2021

Mastectomy for Minors: SEGM Challenges WPATH's Position of "Proven" Safety, Efficacy, and Medical Necessity

SEGM files an Amicus Brief with the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

The Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) has filed an Amicus Brief with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, challenging the position held by WPATH and set forth in WPATH’s and the Pediatric Endocrine Society’s Amicus Brief that mastectomies for gender-dysphoric adolescents are ...

July 2, 2021

One Year Since Finland Broke with WPATH "Standards of Care"

Finland prioritizes psychotherapy over hormones, and rejects surgeries for gender-dysphoric minors

A year ago, the Finnish Health Authority (PALKO/COHERE) deviated from WPATH's "Standards of Care 7," by issuing new guidelines that state that psychotherapy, rather than puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, ...

June 19, 2021

Endocrine Society Position on Gender Dysphoria Treatments Not Supported by Available Evidence

A recently-published rebuttal to the Endocrine Society's Position on transgender interventions

In December of 2020, the Endocrine Society, in partnership with the Pediatric Endocrine Society, released a Position Statement regarding transgender health. A recently published peer-reviewed letter to the editor of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM), an...

May 30, 2021

Detransition: a Real and Growing Phenomenon

A new study looks at detransition-related needs and support

Over the last few years, a growing community of detransitioners has formed online. Despite the visibility recently given to the topic in mainstream media, including a recent 60 Minutes episode featuring detransitioners and their stories, detransition is still a poorly understood phenomenon. A...

May 28, 2021

"Gender-affirming" Hormones and Surgeries for Gender-Dysphoric US Youth

SEGM answers questions about the state of North American gender care for children, adolescents and young adults

Following the 60 Minutes episode earlier this week, which highlighted the controversies surrounding medical interventions for gender dysphoric youth, SEGM has been receiving an increasing number of inquiries about the state of gender care for youth in the United States. One question in particular...

May 5, 2021

Sweden’s Karolinska Ends All Use of Puberty Blockers and Cross-Sex Hormones for Minors Outside of Clinical Studies

Concerns over medical harm and uncertain benefits result in a major policy shift

Update May 08, 2021. The Karolinska Hospital in Sweden recently issued a new policy statement regarding treatment of gender-dysphoric minors. This policy, affecting Karolinska's pediatric gender services at Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital (ALB), has ended the practice of prescribing puberty...

May 1, 2021

The Effect of Puberty Blockers on the Accrual of Bone Mass

After two years, up to a third of children have abnormally low bone density

Suppressing puberty in children suffering from gender dysphoria — by administering Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone agonist (GnRHa) — entails several known risks. One is that patients could “end with a decreased bone density, which is associated with a high risk of osteoporosis” (Delemarre-van de...

March 31, 2021

New Systematic Reviews of Puberty Blockers and Cross-Sex Hormones Published by NICE

Weighing potential benefits against profound long-term uncertainties

New systematic reviews reveal that GnRH agonists lead to little or no change in gender dysphoria, mental health, body image and psychosocial functioning. All the studies evaluated had results of “very low” certainty, and were subject to bias and confounding.

March 17, 2021

New Study Raises Questions About the Gender Minority Stress Model

Gender dysphoria emerges in youth who have problematic developmental histories

Individuals suffering from gender dysphoria demonstrate an increased prevalence of mental health issues when compared to the general population. One theory that explains the link between GD and mental illness is the minority stress model. An alternative explanatory model for the co-occurrence of GD...

February 15, 2021

A Typology of Gender Detransition and Its Implications for Healthcare Providers

Gender detransition, broadly defined as the interruption or reversal of a gender transition process, has acquired noticeable visibility in recent years. Those who detransition, commonly referred to as "detransitioners," have started to share their experiences on social media and other...

December 19, 2020

2020 Gender Medicine Highlights

SEGM end-of-year review

The year 2020 has been pivotal in the field of gender medicine. Earlier this month, in a landmark decision, the UK High Court ruled that children under 16 are unlikely to be able to consent to the use of puberty blockers, which the Court deemed to be an experimental treatment. Rather than a “pause...

December 12, 2020

An English Ruling on Transgender Teens Could Have Global Repercussions

The following Economist article has been reproduced fully, with permission

In 2018 Andrea Davidson’s 12-year-old daughter, Meghan, announced she was “definitely a boy”. Ms Davidson says her child was never a tomboy but the family doctor congratulated her and asked what pronouns she had chosen, before writing a referral to the British Columbia Children’s Hospital (BCCH). “...

December 3, 2020

UK High Court Ruling on the Use of Puberty Blockers in Gender Dysphoric Minors (Bell v. Tavistock)

SEGM position statement

The Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) maintains that treatments for gender-dysphoric people should be supported by high quality evidence. We commend the thorough process undertaken by the UK High Court to assess the ability of young people to consent to treatment that has serious...

November 16, 2020

The Danger of Conflating Ethical Psychotherapy with Conversion Therapy

SEGM clinicians examine a study purporting harms of psychotherapy

In September 2019, JAMA Psychiatry published an article, Association Between Recalled Exposure to Gender Identity Conversion Efforts and Psychological Distress and Suicide Attempts Among Transgender Adults. The article concluded that...

August 30, 2020

Correction of a Key Study: No Evidence of “Gender-Affirming” Surgeries Improving Mental Health

Allowing scientific debate in transgender medicine improves evidence basis

In October 2019, the American Journal of Psychiatry (AJP) published a study from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, and the Yale School of Public Health which reported that “gender-affirming" surgeries for gender dysphoric...

Subscribe to Drupal blog posts Subscribe to Blog posts