The most surprising clinical conclusion in history was the publication of Transgender Health’s research that revealed a significant mental health gap between transgender people and those who are cisgender.
A cross-sectional analysis was done to determine the prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses among transgender patients receiving care through an electronic health record system that is all-payer. Out of 10,270 transgender individuals, 58% (n=5940), had at least one diagnosis, compared to 13.6% (n=7.311,780 in the control population) (p0.0005). There was a statistically significant rise in the prevalence of all psychiatric diagnoses for transgender patients, with generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder being the most prevalent (31% and 12%) respectively. Although the database is not perfect, it allows for the assessment of mental and substance use disorders in this small population.
Researchers found that there were increased cases of bipolar disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and substance use disorders among transgender people. There were also other disparities such as panic disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and agoraphobia.
This study examined records from 53,449,000.400 patients. It was therefore a very large sample used for the study.
As one would expect from Transgender Health’s medical journal, researchers had to mention that the differing mental health outcomes were caused by “high rates of discrimination, violence, and trauma transgender people experience”, rather than any inherent experience of living in an alien body.
The researchers are committed to this ideology and take every opportunity to advocate for transgender children as young as possible. They suggest that the emerging field of a transgender child research has shown improved mental health outcomes when transgender children can socially transition at an early age.
