Fiftyfold rise in gender confused children

The number of children diagnosed with gender dysphoria increased fiftyfold over the ten years to 2021.

A study using GP records in England, published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, found that in 2011, one in 60,000 children were diagnosed with gender dysphoria, increasing to one in 1,200 by 2021.

Over half of the children diagnosed were also recorded as having anxiety, depression or a history of self-harm. The authors called for better mental health treatment for gender confused young people.

Rapid increase

Co-author of the research, Professor Tim Doran from the University of York, stated that gender dysphoria is “still really uncommon, but obviously much, much, much more common than it used to be 10 years ago”.

He explained that GPs may struggle making a diagnosis or prescribing treatment: “Even though we’ve seen this very rapid increase, most practices will have zero, one or two children, with gender dysphoria on their books.”

He emphasised that there is “an urgent need to tackle vulnerability to mental health difficulties and improve mental health support for children and young people experiencing gender dysphoria/incongruence”.

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Appropriate treatment

Professor Ashley Grossman, a hormone doctor from Oxford University, warned of a “conveyor belt” pushing children towards transgender ideology.

The medic told Westminster’s Health and Social Care Committee, “we’re not adequately assessing the probably much larger number who, with adequate counselling and psychological support,” would eventually accept their birth sex.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting stressed: “Children’s healthcare must always be evidence-led. The independent expert Commission on Human Medicines found that the current prescribing and care pathway for gender dysphoria and incongruence presents an unacceptable safety risk for children and young people.”