Testosterone treatment for natal females is not associated with reduced psychiatric treatment needs. Instead, it is associated with increased needs at the group level.

In a nationwide Finnish cohort, adolescent females who received masculinising hormone treatment (testosterone) showed a marked increase in specialist psychiatric care, rising from 21.6% before treatment to 54.5% during follow-up. Although testosterone is sometimes associated with short-term mood changes, this register-based analysis found no reduction in psychiatric treatment needs after masculinising medical transition, and instead a clear increase compared with both pre-treatment levels and matched controls.

Ruuska, S.-M., Tuisku, K., Holttinen, T., and Kaltiala, R. (2026). “Psychiatric Morbidity Among Adolescents and Young Adults Who Contacted Specialised Gender Identity Services in Finland in 1996–2019: A Register Study,” Acta Paediatrica: 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.70533.