Dr. Phil, the controversial American prime-time television psychologist, this week criticized the medical community for rushing to put gender-confused children on hormone therapy or undergo reassignment surgery.
Appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Dr. Phillip McGraw, 73, said he was surprised that the leading group of children’s doctors in the United States had endorsed the treatments even though countries such as the United Kingdom and Parts of Europe restrict them due to fear of long-term side effects.
He said: ‘It’s interesting that they choose words like gender-affirming attention. It’s interesting that they call it that, but what they’re really talking about is hormone therapy or sex reassignment surgery in children.
“Every major American medical association has approved this… and I have never seen those organizations approve anything with less information about whether or not it causes long-term harm to anything in my lifetime.”
Data shows that approximately 3,600 children as young as 12 received gender-affirming surgery between 2016 and 2020 in the US, including breast removal, genital reassignments and facial adjustments.
The American Medical Association (AMA) supports gender-affirming care, including hormone therapy, and has written to politicians expressing opposition to legislation that limits the options doctors and families have when making decisions for pediatric patients. with gender diversity.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) supports gender-related treatments for children and Dr. Brittany Allen, a member of the AAP’s LGBTQ Executive Committee, said doctors should consider puberty blockers and hormone therapy at ages appropriate for trans youth.
The American Association of Clinical Endocrinology (AACE) guidelines recommend hormone therapy for adolescent patients with gender identity misalignment for more than six months who have received mental health counseling and “have the capacity to make medical decisions.”
Dr. Phil, who has a doctorate in psychology but has not been licensed to practice since 2006, went on to say that by rushing children into hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery, doctors were causing harm to young people.
He added: “I thought the deal was, first of all, do no harm.” We cannot consciously say that this does not hurt because it does not [do] to damage.’
The number of children identifying as trans has increased, with diagnoses of gender dysphoria increasing and the number of children receiving hormone therapy also increasing.
A 2022 report A Williams Institute study using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 1.6 million Americans ages 13 and older identify as transgender, including 1.3 million adults and 300,000 youth.
Of all youth ages 13 to 17, 1.4 percent identify as trans, the highest percentage among five different age groups ranging from 13 to 65.
Across the United States, the most teens identify as trans in New York (three percent) and the least identify as trans in Wyoming (0.6 percent).
A 2022 apart report from Kimodo Health found that the number of gender dysphoria diagnoses among patients ages six to 17 nearly tripled between 2017 and 2021, rising from 15,170 to 42,160.
The graph above shows the number of insurance claims for gender dysphoria diagnoses in the US.
The graph above shows the number of insurance claims for puberty blockers in the US.
Similarly, the number of children diagnosed with gender dysphoria taking puberty blockers increased from 633 in 2017 to 1,400 in 2021. Hormone therapy was used in 4,200 children ages six to 17 who had previously been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. gender, an increase of 1,900 in 2017.
Another 2023 study found that the number of gender-affirming surgeries (GAS) has increased substantially in the US, with breast and chest surgery being the most common.
The number of genital surgeries increased with age.
The study found that 3,600 children between the ages of 12 and 18 underwent GAS annually in 2020.
The TV doctor blamed social media and the internet for the rise in children identifying as transgender, stating that being exposed to content on the topic leads children to want to “distinguish themselves.”
Dr. Phil said, “I think a lot of this is due to social media platforms and the internet… You read about this.” You see it on social media. And you think, well, I can distinguish myself this way.
‘There is a social contagion effect. So that people can get on the train. But they have done things that cannot be reversed. “I think that’s really tragic.”
Dr. Phil went on to say that teachers who support or try to help children struggling with their gender identity are unqualified and may hide the situation from the child’s parents.
Podcast host Joe Rogan added: ‘These people teaching these kids, do we even know them? You don’t know them… They could be crazy. It’s not that the threshold for teachers is that high.
“You see a lot of weird people teaching classes and you don’t necessarily want them advising kids on the decisions they’re going to make for the rest of their lives.”
He also added that young children are impressionable and may be subject to suggestions.
Mr Rogan said: ‘And here’s an important point that people really need to keep in mind. There’s a reason they make little kids become suicide bombers: because you can convince kids to do almost anything. You convince them to believe in Santa Claus.
“You convince children to believe in all kinds of ridiculous things because they are so young. You can easily convince them one way or another that they are anything: that they are queer, that they are trans.
“Some kids can be 100 percent convinced of all kinds of things.”