A study published in Acta Paediatrica examined psychiatric morbidity among adolescents and young adults who contacted specialized gender identity services in Finland from 1996 to 2019. Nearly 2,100 patients under age 23 were studied. The study found that among adolescents referred to specialist transgender services, 45.7% had mental health issues before referral, compared to 15.0% among the control population. Two years or more after referral, 61.7% of the gender dysphoric population had mental health issues, compared to 14.6% of the control population.
The study noted that among those exhibiting psychiatric morbidity, the rates increased following medical gender reassignment. For individuals assigned male at birth seeking more feminine characteristics, psychiatric morbidity increased from 9.8% to 60.7%. For those assigned female at birth seeking more masculine characteristics, it increased from 21.6% to 54.5%. Among those who received medical gender reassignment treatments, males showed a 518% increase in psychiatric morbidity (from 16 to 99), while females showed a 151% increase (from 137 to 345).
The study observed that among adolescents referred to Finnish transgender services who did not undergo medical procedures, “the rates of mental health issues increased by a much smaller amount.” The research also found that psychiatric treatment needs continued into adulthood. Among those studied, 27.6% had more than 100 contacts to specialist level psychiatric treatment during their lives, and another 22% had 25 contacts. In comparison, 74% of the control group had no specialist psychiatric contacts, and only 10% had more than 25.
The authors concluded that “the considerable severe psychiatric morbidity prior to contacting the GIS, and its increase over time, suggest that for some of these adolescents, gender dysphoria may be secondary to other mental health challenges,” underscoring the need to thoroughly assess and treat mental disorders before and after irreversible medical treatments.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.wnd.com/2026/04/psychiatric-morbidity-new-study-confirms-switching-genders-deteriorates/