(The Christian Institute) Researchers who claimed transgender people who undergo surgery to ‘change sex’ have better mental health outcomes have admitted their widely-shared study was wrong.
Last year, Swedish researchers Dr Richard Bränström and Dr John Pachankis claimed that people who have surgery to try and change sex are less likely to need mental health treatment than those who don’t. They also said that the likelihood of being treated for a mood or anxiety disorder reduces over time.
At the time, media outlets such as NBC News and ABC News reported this as fact, but the researchers have now said the research was flawed and that key findings were wrong.
Scrutiny
Following publication, the study was scrutinised by other academics. One pointed out that their major conclusion was based on the outcomes of just three people, despite having collected the data of more than 2,500 gender-confused people in Sweden.