Mainstream discourse habitually ignores and underrepresents a viewpoint that is increasingly echoed in clinical circles. It is a viewpoint based in clinical ethics, long-term outcomes, & a commitment to psychological health not in hatred or phobia; empathey instead of self-absorbed virtue signaling.
The modern model of “affirmative care” supported fanatically by the Left where any expression of gender dysphoria is immediately validated and supported through social transition, hormones, or surgery is based on the profound ethical gamble that altering the body will resolve rather than encourage deep internal distress.
It happens that the evidence doesn’t clearly support that promise!
Large, long-term studies (like the landmark Swedish study by Dhejne et al. 2011) show that even after full medical transition, individuals with gender dysphoria experience suicide rates nearly 19 times higher than the general population. This isn't a reflection of transphobia alone, it raises an urgent question: Are we truly healing, or are we just affirming distress into permanence?
In contrast to other psychiatric conditions, (like anorexia or body dysmorphia, where reinforcing a distorted self-image is considered harmful), gender dysphoria is the only condition where the medical community, (driven mainly by political ideologies instead of science), has chosen to validate the perceived "identity" reality over the biological one. The following hormonal and surgical methods to pursue this permanently altering healthy bodies in the process.
This shift is not supported by robust randomized controlled trials. There is no definitive evidence that psychological approaches aimed at helping individuals accept their biological sex are generally ineffective. In fact, many people I know have resolved gender dysphoria not through transition, but through introspection, time, and therapy that aimed for integration — not surgically achieved cosmetic conformity.
The core concern for those involved is simple: if a person’s psychological well-being depends entirely on the constant affirmation of others, of institutions, of society is that a durable foundation for mental health? Or is it, in fact, a fragile dependence?
Affirmative care may relieve distress in the short term, but what of those without an extensive, actively caring support system? Also, if it locks a person into a lifelong identity that requires external maintenance to hold together is that medicine? Or is that self-absorbed abuse dressed as compassion?
Do not accuse me of calling to marginalize or dehumanize anyone. I ask that we re-examine the ethical cost of our current medical model, asking whether we have confused the fevered flush of the illusion of immediate relief with long-term healing of a person's very human condition.
Have the guts to ask these questions! Real compassion, real care, is not about affirmations & political conformity, it is about truth, integration, & the courage to help people grow beyond the confines of their distress.