Gender‐affirming care important to mental health of adolescents

Abstract

It's ironic that the very places where young people whose gender identity is different from the sex that was assigned at birth seek help — psychiatric hospitals — may cause harm by not affirming the youth's gender identities. Such youth are twice as likely to access psychiatric inpatient care as cisgender peers, and research has shown that the stress these youth face from having to deal with transphobic systems — including, sometimes, unsupportive parents, school staff, and peers — may play a factor in their increased risk of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and nonsuicidal self‐harm. An editorial in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry noted that higher rates of mental health challenges among these young people explain why they access inpatient services more frequently than cisgender peers. Research has found that these young people “often experience discrimination during psychiatric inpatient admissions (e.g., being misgendered during admission intake, facing stigmatization for an evolving gender identity, and receiving care from staff who have not been trained to provide gender‐affirming care), the editorial added. This is despite the fact that organizations such as the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry underscore the importance of “psychiatric care that is inclusive and affirming,” for these youth. [McKenna, J. L., Anglemyer, E., McGregor, K. (2023, Jun 24). Gender‐affirming mental health care for transgender and gender diverse youth on pediatric inpatient psychiatry units. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry, S0890‐8567(23)00330‐1. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2023.05.021. Online ahead of print.]