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Hormone therapy improves mental health for trans youth

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Hormone therapy improves mental health for trans youth

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/hormone-therapy-improves-mental-health-for-trans-youth/ar-AA16Qtc5?cvid=8e3cda92b99e4754bb0513b1c6fb669b

Story by LGBTQNation (2 Feb 2023)

Hormone therapy improves the mental health of transgender youth. That’s the takeaway from a new study from The New England Journal of Medicine, released last week.

The study is reportedly the largest in the U.S. to date. Over the course of two years, researchers tracked 315 trans and non-binary young people between the ages of 12 and 20 receiving hormone therapy. According to a summary of the research, “During the study period, appearance congruence (alignment between gender identity and physical appearance), positive affect, and life satisfaction increased, and depression and anxiety symptoms decreased.”

Researchers reported that young people who were assigned female at birth saw greater benefits when taking testosterone than those assigned male at birth who took estrogen. Several factors could be at play here, they speculated, including the speed with which the outward effects of testosterone manifest and greater social stigma faced by transfeminine people compared to transmasculine people.

The authors note that “marked increases in referrals but limited evidence as to long-term outcomes have led to controversies and debate” over providing adolescents with gender-affirming hormones (GAH). Across the U.S., state legislators have introduced bills restricting or outright banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

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