Study dismisses claims youth suicides increased after NHS restricted puberty blockers | Young People

A government-commissioned study has rejected claims that suicide rates among young people with gender dysphoria have risen sharply since the NHS restricted access to puberty-blocking drugs.

A report by the government’s suicide prevention adviser also found the claims – made by campaign group the Good Law Project – were not supported by data and could encourage children under 18 to take their own lives.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting last week asked Professor Louis Appleby, a leading mental health expert at the University of Manchester, to examine suicide rates among current and former patients at the now-abandoned Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) at Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust.

In his paper published Friday, Appleby said he found no evidence to support these claims.

“The data do not support the claim that there has been a sharp increase in suicides among young patients attending women’s services at the Tavistock since the High Court decision in 2020 or at any other recent date,” the analysis concludes. It covers the care received and outcomes observed among patients at the London-based specialist mental health facility.

The Good Law Project’s executive director, Jo Maugham, responded: “I was not contacted before the statement was published and will obviously need time to respond. I have difficulty with the figures and analysis and will respond in due course.”

Appleby also advised patients, NHS staff and campaign groups not to view the provision of puberty blockers “as the touchstone, the difference between acceptance and non-acceptance”. [of gender dysphoria]”We need to move away from that perception.”

He was asked to consider the evidence on which allegations were based that the NHS’s decision to restrict access to puberty-blocking drugs following the High Court ruling in Keira Bell’s case in December 2020 had led to a “surge” or “explosion” in suicides among young people with gender dysphoria. Three judges ruled that people under the age of 16 did not have the capacity to decide whether or not to give informed consent to take the drugs.

In addition to finding no evidence to support the suicide allegations, Appleby also stressed that “the manner in which this issue has been discussed on social media has been insensitive, distressing and dangerous, and runs counter to the principles of the Charter.” [Samaritans] “Tips for Safely Reporting a Suicide.”

“The claims that have been made public do not meet basic standards of statistical evidence,” he added.

He raised the possibility that “already distressed adolescents hear the message that ‘people like you, facing similar problems, are committing suicide,’ leading them to copycat suicide or self-harm.”

Appleby, an expert in mental health statistics, found evidence of 12 suicides among current and former Gids patients in the six years between 2018-19 and 2023-24. Six of these were people under the age of 18.

There were five suicides in the three years leading up to 2020-21 and seven in the three years after. “There is virtually no difference, given the expected fluctuations of small numbers,” he said.

Kate Barker, chief executive of the LGB Alliance, said: “It is distressing that completely unfounded claims of an increase in suicidal tendencies have been allowed to take root and be given credence by people in public life who should have known better than to play politics with such an emotive issue.

“The whole world can now see these allegations for what they are: a cynical attempt to spread false information in the service of a dangerous and homophobic ideology.”

• In the UK and Ireland, the Samaritans can be contacted on the freephone number 116 123 or by email at jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat at 988lifeline.org or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the Lifeline crisis support service is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.