Depression symptoms got worse in children taking puberty blockers.

In a study¹ of 94 children with gender dysphoria, aged 8-16 and beginning to take puberty blockers, depression symptoms were more likely to get worse than to improve over two years of treatment. Scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-Y) went from 72% average, 10% mildly elevated, 10% moderately elevated, and 8% severely elevated at baseline to 75% average, 7% mildly elevated, 14% moderately elevated, and 9% severely elevated after 24 months. 

This study was conducted from 2016 to 2021 by Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy. In 2024, the New York Times reported² Dr. Olson-Kennedy saying that publication of this research had been delayed because she feared that research showing that puberty blockers did not improve patients’ mental health would be “weaponized” against the use of puberty blockers by opponents of the practice. The report appeared as a pre-print, not peer-reviewed, in May 2025.

1. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, Liyuan Wang, Carolyn F. Wong, Diane Chen, Diane Ehrensaft, Marco A. Hidalgo, Amy C. Tishelman, Yee-Ming Chan, Robert Garofalo, Asa E. Radix, Stephen M. Rosenthal, Emotional Health of Transgender Youth 24 Months After Initiating Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy, Journal of Adolescent Health, Volume 77, Issue 1, 2025, Pages 41-50, ISSN 1054-139X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.11.014. ↩︎
2. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/23/science/puberty-blockers-olson-kennedy.html
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