Children, adolescents and young adults in Germany have been diagnosed as transgender eight times more often over the last ten years, according to a new study.
According to a study published by the Deutsches Ärzteblatt and made available in advance to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the diagnosis of “gender identity disorder” among children and adolescents aged five to twenty-four in Germany has increased eightfold in the last ten years.
Christian Bachmann, child and adolescent psychiatrist at the University Hospital Ulm, and his colleagues from the University of Oldenburg and the Central Institute for Statutory Health Insurance in Berlin analyzed the nationwide billing data of the associations of statutory health insurance physicians in the period from 2013 to 2022. They found that in 2013, 22.5 per 100,000 male and female insured persons had a diagnosis. In 2022, however, the number was 175. It has therefore increased eightfold.
According to the “FAZ”, the researchers also found that after five years only 36.4 percent of this age group had a confirmed diagnosis. For fifteen to nineteen year old girls, the rate even dropped to 27 percent. For men aged 20 to 24, however, the diagnosis remained at around 50 percent.
Bachmann explained to the “FAZ” that it is not a new finding that transgender is often a temporary diagnosis, especially in childhood and adolescence, when gender identity is often fluid. This argument is also repeatedly used by concerned parents who campaign against puberty blockers, as reported by WDR and others.
According to “Stern”, the drugs, which are mostly harmless, are used, among other things, to suppress puberty in children for the time being. This allows the children to become aware of their gender identity. When they stop taking the blockers, which use hormones to prevent beard growth or breast development, they go through puberty normally. According to “Times”, there are no side effects or proven disadvantages to date.
The physical changes experienced during male puberty are particularly difficult for transgender people to reverse or correct in adulthood. This is also reported by trans influencer Jocelyn Claire Reed in the “Daily Mail”, who is now undergoing surgery to adjust her body, just like many transgender women do.
In addition, according to the “Times”, trans people report that experiencing puberty in a body that they felt was wrong was a traumatic experience. The medication is life-changing for many transgender people, says M. Burleton, a trans* activist from Ohio, USA: “We have the chance to prevent them from becoming emotionally broken.”
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