The use of puberty-blocking drugs has no statistically significant positive impact on the depression rates of trans-identified youth struggling with gender dysphoria, according to a long-awaited study led by a leading proponent of so-called “gender-affirming care.”
The advocacy group Genspect, which describes itself as “an international alliance promoting a non-medicalized approach to sex and gender,” published a post on X Thursday highlighting that “the long-suppressed Olson-Kennedy study on puberty blockers is finally out.”
Puberty blockers are often prescribed to children exhibiting gender dysphoria to stop their natural puberty.
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The study received media attention last year after its lead author, Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, a proponent of gender transition procedures for minors, admitted to withholding the results of the research for political reasons.
“I do not want our work to be weaponized,” she told The New York Times last year, expressing concern that it “could be used in court to argue that ‘we shouldn’t use blockers.'”
The Olson-Kennedy study, released on May 15 and has yet to be peer-reviewed, examined the mental health of 94 youth suffering gender dysphoria at six-month intervals after they first started taking puberty blockers, concluding after two years.
“Self-reported depression symptoms did not change significantly over the 2-year follow-up period in both the conditional and unconditional growth models,” the study concluded.
The data is based on participants’ scores on a wide variety of mental health assessments. On the Beck Depression Inventory, described as a “20-item self-report screener of depression symptoms over the previous two weeks,” the mean T-score among participants was 48.45 at the beginning of the study. Any T-score of less than 55 indicates an average level of depression symptoms, while higher T-scores indicate elevated depression symptoms.
After six months on puberty blockers, the mean T-score increased slightly to 49.85. The mean T-score was measured at 48.43, 49.88 and 49.39 after 12 months, 18 months and two years on puberty blockers, respectively.
“At baseline, 72% (n=63) of participants had average BDI-Y scores, 10% (n=9) mildly elevated, 10% (n=9) moderately elevated, and 8% (n=7) severely elevated,” the report stated. “At 24 months (n=59), 75% (n=42) of participants had average BDI-Y scores, 7% (n=4) mildly elevated, 14% (n=8) moderately elevated, and 9% (n=5) severely elevated scores.”
The study determined, however, that participants were less likely to have attempted suicide after two years on puberty blockers than they were at the beginning of the study.
“At baseline, 20 participants reported ever experiencing suicidal ideation, 11 participants endorsed suicidal ideation in the prior 6 months, 3 participants had made a suicide plan in the past 6 months, and 2 participants reported a suicide attempt in the past 6 months, one of which resulted in an injury requiring medical care.”
“At 24-month follow-up, 5 participants endorsed suicidal ideation in the prior 6 months, no participants had made a suicide plan in the past 6 months, and 1 participant reported a suicide attempt in the past 6 months, which did not result in an injury requiring medical care,” the report noted.
In a post reacting to the study, Genspect stated that the results showed “no significant improvement in depression, emotional health, or parent-reported behavior.”
“Once again, the Dutch study results failed to replicate,” the group noted.
Christian Post social commentator Brandon Showalter, host of the “Gender Indoctrination” podcast series, said the fact that Olson-Kennedy witheld release of the study “is telling.”
“Any ‘study’ that purports to show any potential benefit of puberty blockers in gender-confused minors regarding suicide has to take into account the irretrievably flawed premise of so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ — that it’s possible to be born in the wrong body,” Showalter said.
“In the coming years, we will continue to see the trans-ing of minors prove to be one of the most horrendous medical scandals in history and the monstrous child abuse that it is,” he predicted.
“Additionally, it should never be forgotten that FOIA-obtained documents show that, in the course of this grossly unethical research, she altered the protocol midway through, lowering the age for the cross-sex hormone inclusion criteria from 13 to 8.”
Around two dozen states have banned trans-identified youth from obtaining puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones due to concerns about their long-term impact. The American College of Pediatricians lists possible side effects of puberty blockers as “osteoporosis, mood disorders, seizures, cognitive impairment and, when combined with cross-sex hormones, sterility.”
While most of the action to crack down on puberty blockers and other types of gender transition procedures has come at the state level, that changed earlier this year when President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring that “It is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit these destructive and life-altering procedures.”
Trump’s executive order directed the heads of executive branch agencies to “take appropriate steps to ensure that institutions receiving federal research or education grants end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children” and “rescind or amend all policies” that rely on guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, which supports the performance of gender transition procedures on minors.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
