TL;DR

• A study of 432 trans adolescents found major drops in depression, anxiety, and suicidality after starting puberty blockers or HRT.
• Benefits were consistent regardless of age, treatment length, or gender identity.
• The findings add to years of research showing extremely low regret rates and high patient satisfaction.
• Despite strong evidence, politicians in the US and UK continue restricting care.
• Experts warn these bans severely harm trans youth and worsen mental health outcomes.

New Study Shows Puberty Blockers Are Life-Saving — Again — as Evidence Towers Over Political Panic

In news that shocks absolutely no trans person anywhere, yet another peer-reviewed study has confirmed that puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormone therapy dramatically reduce depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts in trans adolescents. The research, soon to appear in the Journal of Paediatrics, tracked 432 patients aged 12 to 20 and found what clinicians, queer communities, and decades of medical literature already know: gender-affirming care saves lives. Full stop.

Before beginning treatment, participants completed the internationally recognised Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ) tool — and again roughly a year after starting puberty blockers or HRT. The results? Suicidality among patients fell significantly, continuing to decrease with more time in care. Depression and anxiety dropped as well, offering serious relief to a group routinely targeted by political fearmongering.

What’s more, the improvements didn’t depend on age or how long the young people had been on treatment. The benefits were consistent across the board, firmly disproving talking points that frame puberty blockers as dangerous or experimental. Researchers do recommend long-term follow-ups, but the message is already clear: this care works, it’s safe, and withholding it inflicts harm.

The Evidence Is Overwhelming — and Politicians Still Ignore It

For years, wave after wave of scientific studies around the world have shown that gender-affirming care boosts wellbeing, reduces suicidal ideation, and leads to extremely low regret rates. One 2024 study found that 97% of trans minors were highly satisfied with their treatment; another found just two regrets out of 548 patients. Compare that to commonly regretted procedures like knee surgery or even childbirth, and the “concerns” about gender-affirming care crumble fast.

Yet nearly half of trans youth in the United States now live in states that restrict or ban access to puberty blockers. The UK has blocked access too — even though the same drugs remain available for cisgender youth experiencing early puberty. And in both cases, lawmakers have leaned more on politics than science.

Experts warn the consequences are devastating. The Trevor Project and multiple medical associations note that bans worsen mental health, heighten suicidality, and destabilise families already under immense pressure. Dr Natacha Kennedy’s research shows UK bans have pushed once-thriving trans children into self-harm, despair, and isolation — not because of treatment, but because treatment is being forcibly withheld.

Why This Matters for LGBTQ+ Communities

For trans youth, puberty isn’t just awkward — it can be traumatic. Puberty blockers don’t force a decision; they buy time, space, and safety. They pause changes that feel catastrophic, giving young people and their families room to breathe and plan. They are reversible, clinically endorsed, and, as this study once again proves, life-saving.

But the fight for access isn’t just about medicine. It’s about dignity. It’s about whether society listens to evidence or to fear. It’s about whether trans kids are allowed to grow up at all.

Every new study strengthens what LGBTQ communities have been saying for decades: support trans youth, and they thrive. Deny them care, and the harm is immediate and profound.

As politicians continue to weaponise trans lives for votes, research like this becomes more than data — it becomes testimony. Proof. Another brick in the wall of truth that anti-trans rhetoric can’t outrun forever.

Because if there’s one thing the evidence shows again and again, it’s this: suicide is preventable, and gender-affirming care is part of that prevention.