Teenage transgender row splits Sweden as dysphoria diagnoses soar by 1,500%

[janterry]

For several days this week the veteran Swedish journalist Malou von Sivers will cover the same topic in every episode of her nightly TV chat show: the extraordinary rise in diagnoses of gender dysphoria among teenage girls.

Lukas Romson, one of the country’s leading trans activists, is prepared for the worst. “There will be no serious trans activists in the show, because none of us trusts Malou at all,” he says. “I’m afraid she’ll just use us.” (excerpt)


(and) The immediate trigger for Von Sivers’s themed week is a report from Sweden’s Board of Health and Welfare which confirmed a 1,500% rise between 2008 and 2018 in gender dysphoria diagnoses among 13- to 17-year-olds born as girls.

(also)
On 20 December, the Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment, which the government had asked to review the scientific research into the recent surge in teenagers reporting gender dysphoria, reported that there was very little research either into the reason for the increase or the risks or benefits of hormone treatment and surgery.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/22/ssweden-teenage-transgender-row-dysphoria-diagnoses-soar

(looks like this is becoming a big issue in Sweden)

[madaboutharry]

1. This statistic seems so extraordinary.

It doesn't sound like it can even be accurate. I have to wonder how much of this is a misdiagnoses. Are at least some of these girls suffering from depression because they are figuring out that being female is in itself a great challenge and makes the world a more difficult place to live in? I don't know. I believe that there are people who are transgender and that they need all the rights and support that society and the medical field can offer to them, but these percentages don't seem realistic.

[janterry]

2. This is true in other countries

I know that England is also conducting a review re: treatment protocols.

Here are their stats:
The Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust offers gender identity services for children under 18, with some patients as young as three or four years old.

They now have a record number of referrals and see 3,200% more patients than they did 10 years ago - with the increase for girls up by 5,337%.

[Voltaire2]

3. It is starting from a very small number

And from conditions that were intolerant of and unsupportive to transgendered people.

The increases are because society is becoming more accepting. Overtime the real frequency of transgender people in society will be known.

If last year 1 person publicly identified as transgendered and this year 10 did, that is a 1000% increase. But all it really means is that there was a lot of underreporting.

[janterry]

4. That's one hypothesis

there are several right now, though there is nothing clear at this point.


I guess researchers are trying to unsort it.

[Phoenix61]

5. The diagnostic criteria is pretty vague.

I have to wonder how these young girls found themselves in front of a clinician to be diagnosed with anything.

[janterry]

6. Teens are always so difficult to diagnose

and the increase is seen - very significantly - in teen girls (not boys).

It's interesting that this increase w/girls - holds true across several different countries (also true in the USA)

[Phoenix61]

7. The social norms for women are pretty

consistent especially across Western society. A lot of the DSM criteria is what we used to call a tomboy. I sometimes think we have managed to pathologize so much of what we used to call personality or quirks.

[janterry]

8. I agree

(I should add this is a hypothesis that is getting a lot of attention)

[Mosby]

9. rapid onset gender dysphoria (new, very controversial hypothesis)

It's based on "social contagion" "theory".

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/new-paper-ignites-storm-over-whether-teens-experience-rapid-onset-transgender-identity

The reply

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/shannonkeating/rapid-onset-gender-dysphoria-flawed-methods-transgender

[janterry]

10. Seems like a exploratory study

They always have limitations. (All research does).

I look forward to follow-up literature .

ETA: Littman says that one of the outcomes of her work was that some girls have come together to describe their experience
https://quillette.com/2019/03/19/an-interview-with-lisa-littman-who-coined-the-term-rapid-onset-gender-dysphoria/


(they call themselves The Pique Resilience Project - they have videos on youtube and a webpage)

[Sophia_Of_PlanetX]

11. Imo, we will look back 10 years from now and realize this was all overblown.

I think trans issues are trendy now, so there’s a lot of fear and pushback.

[Nitram]

12. I wonder if the increase isn't due partly to a wider openness to experimentation and

exploration of alternatives that is often characteristic of teens. Certainly some will decide they are gay, others may decide they are transsexual, some may end up realizing they are most at home with their birth gender. I don't think the statistic, which in itself is remarkable, is something to be worried about. I'll apologize in advance if I have used any of these terms incorrectly.

[janterry]

13. That might be right

In fact, I think it's true.

Of course, if they go on hormones, there are often permanent consequences.