I totally agree and it sucks that people are like that. I was just responding to the argument that any treatment is worth it when the alternative is suicide, because studies range from showing HRT helps a little to not at all at preventing suicide.
Trans people just need to be loved and accepted like everyone else but unfortunately a lot of people really suck.
because studies range from showing HRT helps a little to not at all at preventing suicide.
No they don’t. There are a couple of studies that are deliberately misrepresented by transphobes to imply this, and they often get passed around as fact, by people who aren’t familiar with the studies in question.
Then there is this one https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3043071/. It’s older, and it is misrepresented to claim that the suicide rate of trans folk doesn’t change after transition. The thing about that study is that doesn’t even assess the impact of transition. The entire cohort of trans people in the study were post transition, and questions were asked about their lifetime suicide attempts, without comparing before/after transition data. So because 41% of trans people in that study had made at least one suicide attempt at some point in their lives, the claim was made that transition doesn’t help, because “41% of post op trans people have attempted suicide”. The lead author of this particular study has spoken out several times on the misuse of the study by transphobes with an agenda, but to this day, it keeps happening…
This is a consolidation of the findings of research on trans health care, and the impact of transition on the well being of trans folk. To summarise, they looked at 55 studies on the impact of transition. 51 of those found transition to be beneficial, and 4 of them contained mixed findings.
You’ve stumbled on one of the tools that transphobes use. Deliberate misrepresentation of the facts, so that they can push for trans folk to be cut off from transition related healthcare, all whilst sounding reasonable, and sometimes even supportive. That, and trans people in sports, were the two main wedge tactics that they used to open the door to the wave of transphobia now sweeping the world.
because studies range from showing HRT helps a little to not at all at preventing suicide
You’re misinformed, the evidence supporting HRT for those that want it is sufficient that withholding it is unethical. HRT alone not being able to overcome extreme minority stress for everyone doesn’t mean it’s not helpful or necessary.
While family and community support is extremely important, it can’t replace medical transition for those that want it. You can’t hug the dysphoria away.
I’m primarily going off this meta study. They found many studies failed to reach statistical significance and many failed to account for confounding issues like psychological conditions, trauma, abuse, and substance use.
Instead of using a single meta study (which itself has limitations) as a reason to declare that HRT has no effect on suicidality—which isn’t even something the meta study claimed—you could take a peek at the political climate for trans people right now and just not?
was just responding to the argument that any treatment is worth it when the alternative is suicide
That’s not the argument…
The argument is that treatment plans are developed by evaluating risk and reward.
The risk for not treating is very high, even if the treatment doesn’t have a high rate of efficacy as long as it doesn’t introduce further risk, it’s still a valid treatment.
I totally agree and it sucks that people are like that. I was just responding to the argument that any treatment is worth it when the alternative is suicide, because studies range from showing HRT helps a little to not at all at preventing suicide.
Trans people just need to be loved and accepted like everyone else but unfortunately a lot of people really suck.
No they don’t. There are a couple of studies that are deliberately misrepresented by transphobes to imply this, and they often get passed around as fact, by people who aren’t familiar with the studies in question.
Firstly, there was this Finnish one https://mentalhealth.bmj.com/content/27/1/e300940
You can see more about the hatchet job that the New York Post did on that one here https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/56772/does-gender-transitioning-do-nothing-to-help-suicidal-ideation
Then there is this one https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3043071/. It’s older, and it is misrepresented to claim that the suicide rate of trans folk doesn’t change after transition. The thing about that study is that doesn’t even assess the impact of transition. The entire cohort of trans people in the study were post transition, and questions were asked about their lifetime suicide attempts, without comparing before/after transition data. So because 41% of trans people in that study had made at least one suicide attempt at some point in their lives, the claim was made that transition doesn’t help, because “41% of post op trans people have attempted suicide”. The lead author of this particular study has spoken out several times on the misuse of the study by transphobes with an agenda, but to this day, it keeps happening…
So, let me give you the actual data…
https://whatweknow.inequality.cornell.edu/topics/lgbt-equality/what-does-the-scholarly-research-say-about-the-well-being-of-transgender-people/
This is a consolidation of the findings of research on trans health care, and the impact of transition on the well being of trans folk. To summarise, they looked at 55 studies on the impact of transition. 51 of those found transition to be beneficial, and 4 of them contained mixed findings.
You’ve stumbled on one of the tools that transphobes use. Deliberate misrepresentation of the facts, so that they can push for trans folk to be cut off from transition related healthcare, all whilst sounding reasonable, and sometimes even supportive. That, and trans people in sports, were the two main wedge tactics that they used to open the door to the wave of transphobia now sweeping the world.
You’re misinformed, the evidence supporting HRT for those that want it is sufficient that withholding it is unethical. HRT alone not being able to overcome extreme minority stress for everyone doesn’t mean it’s not helpful or necessary.
While family and community support is extremely important, it can’t replace medical transition for those that want it. You can’t hug the dysphoria away.
I’m primarily going off this meta study. They found many studies failed to reach statistical significance and many failed to account for confounding issues like psychological conditions, trauma, abuse, and substance use.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10027312/
Instead of using a single meta study (which itself has limitations) as a reason to declare that HRT has no effect on suicidality—which isn’t even something the meta study claimed—you could take a peek at the political climate for trans people right now and just not?
That’s not the argument…
The argument is that treatment plans are developed by evaluating risk and reward.
The risk for not treating is very high, even if the treatment doesn’t have a high rate of efficacy as long as it doesn’t introduce further risk, it’s still a valid treatment.