If the idea behind transitioning is for an individual with Gender Dysphoria to overcome anxiety and or depression, I would like to point out that transformation has ambigous effects and "[It should therefore come as no surprise that studies have found high rates of depression,[9] and low quality of life[16], [25] also after sex reassignment]:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
41% of Transgender'd people have attempted suicide in their life, 3x higher than the population's mean:
articles.latimes.com
To put it into prospective, according to allaboutdepression.com, 15% of those clinically depressed commit suicide; according the the Center for Disease Control, adults between 18-25 years old have the highest rate of attempted suicide at 7.4% and according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) the age-adjusted suicide rate is 13.26 per 100k.
So, to adjust these, transgender people are 2.73x more likely to attempt suicide than the depressed are to commit suicide; they are 5.54x more likely to attempt suicide than the highest category of attempties and they are 3.09x more likely to attempt suicide than those who commit suicide.
Now, one may claim this is due to factors of environment towards trans, but according to studies, 54.3% of transsexuals have little to no experience in family rejection. 31.3% reported moderate rejection and 14.3% reported high rejection.
online.liebertpub.com
So for the sake of the argument, we will combine moderate and high rejection together, coming to a rejection percentage of 45.6%. When taking out 41, the percentage is moved to 18.696% of transsexuals attempting suicide due to nonenvironmental reasons involving family.
To further demonstrate the case of environmental factors, we will use "[One of the biggest studies on the experiences of transgender people was the 2011 National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS). It found that in the U.S., 41 percent of transgender and gender non-conforming people had attempted suicide, compared to a national average of just 4.6 percent……A brand new study from Canada confirms this effect. There, the suicide attempt rate for transgender people was similar to what other studies have found: about 18 times higher than the general population. But the study found that some factors greatly reduced the attempt rate. For example, when transgender people had affirming parents, the rate dropped by 57 percent. Access to legal documentation consistent with their gender identity dropped rates by 44 percent. Trans people who experienced low levels of anti-trans hate were 66 percent less likely to attempt suicide.]"
thinkprogress.org
For this we will focus on "Trans people who experienced low levels of anti-trans hate were 66 percent less likely to attempt suicide" since it can be used as an umbrella factor for negative environmental impacts and has the greatest impact generally overall.
66% of 41% comes out to 13.94% of transsexuals committing or attempting suicide due non-environmental factors, which is 3.03 times the national average's rate of 4.6.
Now, would you not say that if your solution to a problem resulted in a significant proportion of your patients commiting suicide, than that method is a failure? This is why I am of the opinion that we should seek treatment through other means, preferably like any other disorder - through a combination of therapy and medication.
