Finnish Study on “Gender Affirming Care”

Source: "Finnish study adds to growing scrutiny of ‘gender affirming care’ treatments, echoing Cass Review concerns", Christian Daily International, 14 April 2026.

"A major new study from Finland has found that adolescents referred for gender identity treatment continue to experience significantly elevated mental health challenges over time ..."

"The study, published in Acta Paediatrica, analyzed national registry data spanning 1996 to 2019 and tracked approximately 2,100 young people referred to specialized gender identity services. Researchers found that nearly half—about 46%—had already received psychiatric care before referral, rising to nearly 62% within two years afterward. Compared to their peers, adolescents in the study showed markedly higher levels of psychiatric need both before and after referral. After adjusting for prior treatment, girls were about three times more likely to require additional psychiatric care, while boys were about five times more likely."

"The Finnish study similarly found that adolescents referred for gender identity services had “significantly higher psychiatric morbidity” prior to treatment—suggesting that gender-related distress often coexists with other mental health conditions."

Source: Hannah Hiester, "Landmark Finnish study finds youths’ mental health problems increase after gender ‘transitions’", Catholic Vote, 14 April 2026.

"Mental health problems increased from 9.8% to 60.7% for youths who underwent male to female “transition” procedures and 21.6% to 54.5% for those who went through “female to male” procedures."

"The findings that young people tend to experience 'considerable severe' mental health issues before receiving a referral to gender identity procedures and that as these issues worsen over time indicate that gender dysphoria might occur after mental health challenges in some adolescents, according to the researchers."

Source: John Stonestreet and Glenn Stanton, "The Crumbling Sham of Trans Medicine", Colson Center, 16 April 2026.

"An impressive new Finnish study, published in the Swedish academic journal Acta Paediatrica, is extending the damning conclusions of the UK’s 2024 Cass Review. The report was unequivocal in concluding that the so-called 'settled science' of trans medicine is an area of remarkably weak evidence, and the 'reality is that we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress.'”