Under the proposed updated guidelines, the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and transition-related surgery would be restricted to research contexts and no longer provided in clinical settings. Norway joins Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom in introducing greater safeguarding for children. In the United States, eight states thus far have banned affirmative care for individuals under 18, with Tennessee being the latest to pass such legislation.
It's good that more professional organizations are recognizing the experimental nature of this approach in children. An existing body of research shows that most kids with gender dysphoria grow to be comfortable in their bodies upon undergoing puberty and that those wishing to transition suddenly post-puberty may be experiencing a social contagion. These studies have been dismissed because they don’t fit the preferred activist narrative.
That narrative, however, will continue to fall apart. A recent paper in the academic journal Archives of Sexual Behavior discusses how the placebo effect has not been adequately taken into consideration when interpreting newer findings supporting transitioning in children. Although the term "placebo effect" has commonly referred to a patient’s response to an intervention that is ineffective, it can also describe the beneficial psychological and physical effects associated with undergoing treatment, as opposed to the treatment itself.