Contrary to years of convoluted reporting, a new look at a 2011 study revealed that over a third of children placed on puberty blockers suffered mental health issues, Breitbart reports.
The study was conducted in part by the Tavistock Centre and its controversial Gender Identity Development Service, a child gender clinic in the UK that was ordered to be shut down this year by the National Health Service.
An independent review of the clinic conducted by Doctor Hillary Cass revealed the treatments they were offering were “not a safe or viable long-term option.” This comes after reports that the clinic was putting children on puberty blockers based on if young girls failed to show interest in “pink ribbons and dollies.”
The findings of the 2011 study claiming there were “no changes in psychological function” after children were put on puberty blockers were challenged by Susan McPherson and David Freeman, a professor of psychology and sociology at the University of Essex and a retired social scientist, respectively.
They found that the mental health of 34 percent of children “reliably deteriorated" after being placed on puberty-blocking drugs.
They state that their methodology of basing the study on individual results rather than averages of groups proves “greater indication as to variation across participants.”
The researchers said that “This complementary analytic approach allows us to look at how a treatment is performing in terms of the percentage of patients improving, deteriorating and showing clinically significant change.”
“It is possible, using this approach, to look at patterns, such as who is benefitting and who is not,” they continued. “We recommend that these approaches be incorporated into new GD [gender dysphoria] services being established in the UK as well as new research studies being designed.”
A spokesman from Tavistock responded: “We are grateful to all of the clinicians and academics who have contributed to this study over the years, and we welcome new peer-reviewed analyses of the evidence around how to support these young people.”
“The analysis plan for the original study was independently produced by experts in medical statistics, and the underlying data was published so that other researchers might conduct further analyses.”
