British psychologist slams medical establishment after Finnish study demolishes child gender surgeries

A landmark Finnish study on child gender transitions reveals the procedures do more harm than good, even pushing vulnerable youth toward suicide – not away from it as proponents claim.

The study, released in late March, followed 2,083 youth between 1996 and 2019 who received surgeries, hormones and puberty blockers to deal with their gender dysphoria.

It found 45.7% of the youth had “psychiatric morbidity,” or the desire to end their lives, before treatment. That number actually jumped to 61.7% after receiving “gender-affirming care.”

Dr. Dionne Joseph, a clinical psychologist in the United Kingdom, called efforts to change a child’s sex “arguably the biggest medical scandal of our time.”

“Gender-affirming care is a disaster, but this proves it now,” she told GB News. “The evidence is incontrovertible that the phalloplasties, all the medioplasties, the chest stuff they did, made these youngsters considerably worse.”

Joseph called out the medical establishment for lying, hiding and obfuscating evidence that contradicted the prevailing narrative that such irreversible interventions worked to help children.

“The Finnish have done a really good, robust study,” she said, noting the 24-year timeframe and the crosschecking of data with 16,600 “control” individuals without gender dysphoria. Those receiving treatment “started off with quite high levels of morbidity, and they got a lot, lot worse … we saw a disastrous decline in their mental health and functioning.”

Many doctors and scientists were cancelled or pressured into remaining silent, especially over the last decade as the trend of child sex-change surgeries swept through the nation and world, harming thousands of lives.

The last two years have seen the release of major evidence, such as the UK’s Cass Report and a study by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, showing child gender interventions are based on shoddy science at best and have little evidence to support their benefit and continued use.

Countries including Finland, Sweden and the UK have begun restricting these procedures and are investigating whether to ban them permanently for minors.

In the U.S., President Donald Trump began his second term in January 2025 by signing executive orders banning federal funds for such procedures on minors.

Joseph said therapists “lied to” parents that if they didn’t approve of their child’s sex change intervention, the child would commit suicide.

“Now we’re seeing it is the opposite impact,” she said. “You can understand why parents want the best for their children. If they’re being told by the people that they trust – psychiatrists, doctors – that if they don’t medicalize their children, if they don’t chop off body parts, their child is going to commit suicide, you can understand why the fear that would drive them to do this, but now we know it’s actually the opposite. It’s the exact opposite.

“One thing we do in psychology is we never attribute suicide to a single cause, that is, you know, 101 psychology,” she continued. “Suicide is multifactorial, and to just say it is because your child is the wrong sex, it’s so unethical. And then to say this in front of the child when they’re there, we are literally teaching children to be suicidal. We call it making misattributions. And therapists know about this. They know they are doing wrong.”

Joseph affirmed what other experts have said: psychological problems such as gender dysphoria need mental, not physical solutions. Finland has already broken with WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) to make psychotherapy the first treatment step for youth with gender dysphoria.

James Esses, a therapist, investigative journalist and founder of Just Therapy, agreed.

“Being ‘trans’ is not an identity. It is a mental health condition,” he posted on X, while referencing the study. “Affirming it will only make it worse.”