Trans surgery seekers far more likely to need psychiatric care: study

September 28, 2026

A study from Finland suggests that people seeking cosmetic trans surgeries are substantially more likely to need a referral for psychiatric treatment.

The Christian Post reports that the study, published in Acta Paediatrica, examined just over 2,000 young people who contacted Finnish gender clinics between 1996 and 2019 and compared them with a sample of over 16,600 people from the general population.

According to the study, among those seeking gender reassignment, 45.7% had specialist psychiatric treatment prior to being referred to a gender clinic, compared to just 15% of the general population who had sought psychiatric treatment.

After being referred to a gender clinic, 61.7% of those referred required specialist psychiatric treatment at least two years after referral.

For those who pursued gender reassignment, researchers saw a considerable increase in psychiatric treatment, jumping from 9.8% to 60.7% for male-to-female transitioners, and from 21.6% to 54.5% for female-to-male transitioners.

According to the Christian Post, researchers noted that 2010 was a turning point after which there was a significant rise in people seeking gender reassignment.

The study found that young people referred after this point were more likely to need psychiatric treatment both before and after gender referral, when compared to before 2010.

Researchers reported, “Actually, considerable increases in need for psychiatric treatment were seen among those adolescents who had undergone medical GR, particularly among those seeking to look like a girl.”

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