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Archdiocese of Denver
psychological development that occurs during adolescence and the damage
cannot be reversed.
So-called gender confirmation surgeries, designed to "masculinize" or "fem-
inize" the body's appearance according to preference, also cannot modify the
true sexual identity of the person, who was created male or female. Attempts at
gender transitioning can, in fact, have disastrous effects in the life of a person
who continues to struggle to better understand and accept his or her own true
value and full identity. Studies show that, even apart from the resulting medical
harm, surgical interventions often fail to resolve feelings of anxiety, depression,
and dysphoria. Medical or surgical transition is often justified as necessary to
reduce the risk of suicide among transgender-identified persons, but studies
show that suicides occur during all stages of transition, and the suicide rate of
transgender-identified persons remains high, compared to the general popula-
tion, even post-transition.
15
15 The most thorough study of the long term effects of gender reassignment surgery analyzing records
from Sweden from 1973-2003, concluding, "Persons with transsexualism, after sex reassignment,
have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behaviour, and psychiatric morbidity than
the general population. Our findings suggest that sex reassignment, although alleviating gender
dysphoria, may not suffice as treatment for transsexualism, and should inspire improved psychiatric
and somatic care after sex reassignment for this patient group." For the full study, see Cecilia
Dhejne, Paul Lichtenstein, et al., "Long-Term Follow-Up of Transsexual Persons Undergoing Sex
Reassignment Surgery: Cohort Study in Sweden," PLoS One 6, no. 2 (2011): https://journals.plos.
org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885. See also C.M. Wiepjes, CM, M. den
Heijer, M, M.A. Bremmer, et al. ,"Trends in Suicide Death Risk in Transgender People: Results from
the Amsterdam Cohort of Gender Dysphoria Study (1972–2017)," Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
(Feb. 18, 2020), https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/acps.13164.
A VISION OF THE HUMAN PERSON SUPPORTED BY SCIENCE AND MEDICINE
