What the public may not be aware of, is that it is relatively common for treatments to be offered in health and mental health, where the research evidence is still emerging and/or limited"

Dr Paul Skirrow, clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist, and strategic advisor at the New Zealand College of Clinical Psychologists, comments:

"We would urge the public to interpret the findings of these reviews with some caution - many people will assume that this research suggests that puberty blockers and hormone treatments should never be offered, which would be mistaken.

The authors ultimately conclude that: No conclusions can be drawn [about the effect of puberty blockers]. This research highlights that we currently do not know how effective these treatments are, or who they are most effective with, but there are many reports of benefit from the people who use them and clinicians who provide them. What research we do have, albeit of limited quality at present, appears to suggest there may be benefits overall, however, we do not currently know who specifically is likely to benefit.

With regard to hormone treatments, the authors do conclude that There is suggestive evidence from mainly pre-post studies that hormone treatment may improve psychological health. However, again, they clearly state that robust research with long-term follow-up is needed.

What the public may not be aware of, is that it is relatively common for treatments to be offered in health and mental health, where the research evidence is still emerging and/or limited. The choice for clinicians is frequently whether to offer nothing - which is unlikely to be helpful - or offer something that we agree can be helpful for some people.

"In doing so, we recommend that the person undergoing these treatments gets the best possible information on what we know about their risks and benefits. For this reason, we very much welcome research studies, such as those released today, which help us fully understand what they may be."

Conflicts of interest statement: I'm not aware of any potential conflicts of interest. My role with the NZCCP involves speaking on behalf of the organisation, specifically the executive leadership team. We have approximately 1800 members, who hold a wide range of views, and so my comments may or may not reflect those of individual members. I also hold a senior lecturer position at Otago University, specialising in neuropsychology.

Link:
Review of evidence for puberty blockers and hormone treatment in youth - New Zealand Doctor Online

Comments are closed.