More specifically, when treated with hormone therapy, gender dysphoria individuals reported less anxiety,
35,
37,
38 dissociation,
45 perceived stress,
14 social distress,
35 and higher mental health-related quality of life
24,
36,
43,
44 and self-esteem.
36,
38 Also, compared to FtM individuals, MtF individuals seemed to benefit more in terms of body uneasiness,
39 emotional functioning,
31 and personality-related psychopathology.
30,
41,
42 More mixed results emerged from studies investigating other mental health-related dimensions. In particular, recent studies suggested reduced depressive symptoms in hormone-treated gender dysphoria individuals,
35–
37 despite previous evidence of no association between cross-sex hormonal treatment and depression among MtF
34 and FtM individuals.
31 Similarly, global psychopathology appeared to be reduced in two studies,
8,
37 while a third one did not detect any change.
39 Finally, while two studies indicated less functional impairment
37 and reduced problems with socialization and interpersonal functioning in gender dysphoria individuals receiving hormone therapy,
38 two other studies did not find any effect of hormone therapy on social adjustment
34 and psychosocial functioning.
36 Negative findings generally came from studies involving a cross-sectional design. On the contrary, the few longitudinal studies identified in this review were consistent in indicating an association between hormonal treatment and better mental health.
14,
29,
31,
37,
40,
45 Conducting observations of the same subjects over a period of time, longitudinal studies can establish sequences of events and better detect changes in the characteristics of the target population, also due to their higher statistical power.