A clinical psychologist, who is transgender herself, is sounding the alarm on the approach many of her colleagues have taken in recent years regarding medical and social treatment for gender dysphoria among children and teens in the United States. 

Erica Anderson told Fox News Digital that health professionals need to explore all the factors related to what is going on with a child and "not to dissuade them of their assertive gender, but to understand how other things might be related," including mental health issues like a history of abuse, developmental problems, anxiety or depression. 

Anderson has practiced as both a pediatric and adult psychologist for over four decades and has also worked in the healthcare field, most recently in behavorial pediatrics at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), where she primarily worked in pediatric endocrinology at the Adolescent Gender Center.

If a child has had serious mental health issues prior to asserting a gender difference, then a professional should wonder if there is a relationship between them, Anderson said. 

CNN CORRESPONDENT HAILS BIDEN AS ‘EMPATHIZER-IN-CHIEF’ FOR MAUI VISIT: ‘SAID THE RIGHT THINGS'

"I've never seen a major mental illness cured by a gender transition," Anderson said. "I don't think there's any empirical evidence to suggest that depression or anxiety or autism or any other condition is going to be cured by a gender transition."

Despite belief among some of her colleagues in the industry that "the distress that kids experience is all due to gender issues," Anderson said she rarely sees that to be the case. She said cases where a child is gender questioning are "quite simple" and in her experience, "rare."

"We need to explore the course of this gender journey on the part of the young person and find out, is it occurring because of their own organic awareness of who they are, or is it in part because they realize that a lot of other kids are doing this and why shouldn't they?" Anderson asked. 

"We have no reason to believe that exploration of gender on the part of teenagers is less subject to peer influence than anything else," she added. "Pretty much everything going on with teenagers is subject to peer influence. So why isn't gender? No one's ever given me an adequate explanation for why they think gender can't be subject to peer influence. I would submit it is." 

While at UCSF, Anderson said she saw a lot of gender questioning among patients and worked with them and their families, along with physicians, to address their needs. She now works in private practice and because she herself didn't transition until midlife, Anderson argued her personal experience has given her a lot of life experience about the area in which she practices. 

Anderson warned that children are "not just mini adults," but that "they're developmentally different."

"If you facilitate a social transition, it's not a neutral act, it has consequences," Anderson told Fox News Digital. "I'm not interested to direct them one way or another. I routinely say to kids and their families, I don't have any vested interest in you being trans or not. I just want to help you and help you discover who you are."

Erica Anderson

Dr. Erica Anderson speculates many children have anxiety and depression, and in turn, look to alter their gender identity as a way to solve their problems.? (Courtesy of Erica Anderson)

Anderson said she has been doing a lot of writing and speaking about the concerns she has, which started about five years ago when she began to see what she described as "concerning trends" in terms of who is coming to gender clinics.

At UCSF, Anderson said the shift in patients went from a fairly defined population seen in the past, made up of primarily natal males who assert a female gender identity at a young age to a very heterogeneous population that "completely flipped" and was made up of predominantly natal females, "most of whom have not exhibited any gender questioning until more recently" and "didn't match the historic pattern we expected, which was to see someone who was gender questioning from childhood and maybe their questioning and distress accelerated during puberty."

In many of these cases, she said children never indicated to anyone, parents, teachers or professionals, that they were questioning their gender, which challenges the current protocols for treating transgender kids. 

Because the current population of transgender-identifying individuals has become "quite complex," health authorities in Europe have decided "to pivot and take a more cautious approach to dealing with the kids who are coming to gender clinics."

CALIFORNIA MOTHER CLAIMS SHE LOST HER JOB FOR OPPOSING SEXUAL IDEOLOGY IN SCHOOLS: ‘ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATING’

"We've seen that in the United Kingdom, most notably Sweden, Finland, France and more recently Norway and Denmark, who have very publicly indicated the same things that I've been talking about, that the population has shifted," she said. "Protocols that we've had in the past no longer seem to apply, and so we need to ask ourselves what do we need to do with this population? That's where I think the issues lie right now in the United States."

Anderson said that historically if a young person comes to a gender clinic asserting a gender different than their sex assigned at birth, "we would call someone like that transgender, but a number of things have happened in recent years that are unprecedented," like the pandemic, which prompted social isolation among adolescents and more online activity. 

"A lot of young people have resorted to going online and what they have found there is a lot of material that, in my judgment, is probably unhelpful to gender questioning kids," Anderson said. "They're getting advice from social influencers and from people who purport to have something to say to them, even though they're strangers, of course, and they're not trained health professionals."

She said a lot of young people take this advice to heart and then discuss what they read and watch online with their friends. 

"Large social surveys in recent years have confirmed what I've been saying, which is a huge number of kids questioning their gender beyond anything we ever expected, as many as one in five kids who are adolescents in the United States are expressing a gender sexuality different than straight and cisgender. That's a huge shift," she said. "We used to think of transgender kids as a very small proportion, maybe half a percent, 1% or less."

Most trans advocates, Anderson explained, have welcomed this shift, celebrating the uptick as a sign of larger societal acceptance of alternate sexual and gender identities, but she doesn't think that is the only reason. 

"It is obviously common for kids to talk among themselves, so we have to wonder, well, what's going on with these kids?" Anderson asked. "Are they all going to be transgender? The research in the past told us that some proportion of kids who are gender questioning when they're younger persist and become what we call transgender, but not all."

"The question is, who are these kids?" she asked. "Then, are we doing the required individualized assessment of every child to determine what that child needs and when they need it? That's been a big concern of mine, I don't think the assessments that should be occurring, are occurring."

MODERN-DAY PARENTING PRESSURES ARE MAKING CHILDREN LESS DEVELOPED AND WELL-ROUNDED, STUDY FINDS

Anderson said she is regularly told by parents who consult her expertise on gender dysphoria that other professionals are quick to affirm their child without questioning other factors that are frequently present and proceed along the path toward medicalization. 

"I've been worried that too often kids are rushed towards medicalization and that this is not good," she said.

If professionals don't conduct proper individual assessment of a child before they make life-altering decisions, Anderson said this could be potential malpractice.  

"What we're talking about is a proper assessment to determine what intervention is indicated for an individual at that specific time and the hallmark of clinical medicine and clinical psychology is individualized assessment," Anderson said. "We can't use a cookie cutter approach."

"Furthermore, there may be other needs that a child, young person or adolescent has that go unmet," she added. 

FAIRFAX BATHROOM TRANSGENDER

Due to the pandemic, children and teens are spending more time online, which Anderson argued could be influencing children to experiment with their gender.? (Fox News Digital)

In addition, she mentioned the growing awareness around the long-term consequences of the medical intervention used to treat transgender patients, like cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers.

"There don't seem to be any serious long term effects of" using puberty blockers for their original use, to treat precocious puberty, Anderson said. "However, we do know that there is some potential effect of puberty blockers on bone mineralization, the building of bones and by implication, perhaps brain."

Puberty blockers, or gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues (GnRHa), are a class of drugs which suppresses sex hormones by continually stimulating the pituitary gland. The health authorities in Europe, following evidence reviews, have emphasized that the long term effects of the treatment is not well-understood, she said.

Anderson pointed to an infamous case in Sweden, where a child was put on puberty blockers for four years and at 15-years-old, developed osteopenia, a condition where an individual lacks bone density that can lead to osteoporosis if left untreated. The Swedish transgender boy named "Leo," reportedly cannot stand for longer than 15 minutes, and lives in constant pain and with a series of issues in his spine. 

FEDERAL APPEALS COURT RULES SCHOOL DISTRICT CAN CONTINUE TO KEEP STUDENT GENDER TRANSITIONS FROM PARENTS

"One of my concerns has been that the kind of caution that my European colleagues are exercising is not occurring here in the United States and it should be," she said. "Pausing puberty, in theory, while beneficial in terms of providing longer time for a child to question their gender, it has the effect of slowing down development and keeping it at the pre-puberty level and we can't do it indefinitely."

Anderson said "hubris" is to blame for her American colleagues continued backing of gender-affirming care among minors, citing the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which she said has been "stonewalling the idea that they need to do an evidence review."

"Their guidelines are stemming from some discussions that occurred in 2018," she said. "It's five years ago, and a lot more information has arisen. And of course, others, as we're saying in Europe, have looked at all the evidence and said, 'Hey, wait a minute, we need to slow down.'"

She said many pediatricians, have been advocating for an evidence review of the standards for care for several years and "finally" at the beginning of this month, the AAP agreed." Anderson described their enthusiasm for an evidence review as "lukewarm," citing the news release from the AAP announcing the review, whIch reaffirming their basic guidelines from 2018 at the same time. 

AAP CEO/Executive Vice President Mark Del Monte, J.D., "emphasizes that policy authors and AAP leadership are confident the principles presented in the original policy, Ensuring Comprehensive Care and Support for Transgender and Gender-Diverse Children and Adolescents, remain in the best interest of children," the announcement read. 

"You do the evidence review and then you derive your protocols," Anderson said. "You don't say we have protocols and oh, we're going to do an evidence review. No, the protocols are derivative of the evidence review."

"I think there's widespread recognition in the ranks of doctors and some mental health people that time has come to really get real about all of this and not to blame anybody, but simply get together and try to do what's best for children," she added. 

Erica Anderson

Dr. Anderson believes all children should have a full, individualized assessment before making any life-altering decisions.? (Courtesy of Erica Anderson)

She explained that if you go to a medical provider and report certain symptoms, they will do further evaluation to come up with their own assessment. 

"They don't just say, 'Okay, based on your self-report, here's what I'm going to do,'" Anderson said. "We don't rely on self-report in medicine or psychology."

One of the most distressing claims parents of a transgender-identifying individual hear from doctors is that if they don't unequivocally affirm their child's chosen gender identity, they are at a high risk of committing suicide. 

"I call that emotional blackmail," Anderson said. "Parents love their children, they don't want any harm to come to their children, so if a responsible professional, a doctor tells them that … " Anderson said this claim is also a "misreading of the literature."

"The most often quoted 40% or 41% suicidal ideation rate is based on a retrospective study, self-report of adult trans people from five, six years ago and other reports … comport to rates of suicidal ideation and other young people who have mental health challenges," she said. "It's out of context, it's a scary statistic and inappropriately used, I think."

"That statistic has been used to bludgeon lots of parents and manipulate them, in my opinion, into consenting to treatment that they had reservations about," she said. "I think that's wrong."

She said the health authorities in Europe have done that and realized as a result, that there are a multiplicity of factors at work in what's going on with teenagers as it relates to gender, which could offer a more complex picture of the mental health of teenagers

"I would go so far as to say we have a crisis of mental health among American teenagers and so in that context, everything potentially is a source of distress and that's why it's important to examine all aspects of a child's life," Anderson said. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

As a scientist, Anderson said her job is to question everything, not stopping until you have reliable answers, not opinions. 

"My appeal is don't decide to do things before you know what's true and before there's a consensus among everybody involved, the kids, the parents, professionals, including teachers," she concluded. 

For more Culture, Media, Education, Opinion, and channel coverage, visit foxnews.com/media

Fox News Digital's Hannah Grossman contributed to this report. 

universo-virtual.com
buytrendz.net
thisforall.net
benchpressgains.com
qthzb.com
mindhunter9.com
dwjqp1.com
secure-signup.net
ahaayy.com
soxtry.com
tressesindia.com
puresybian.com
krpano-chs.com
cre8workshop.com
hdkino.org
peixun021.com
qz786.com
utahperformingartscenter.org
maw-pr.com
zaaksen.com
ypxsptbfd7.com
worldqrmconference.com
shangyuwh.com
eejssdfsdfdfjsd.com
playminecraftfreeonline.com
trekvietnamtour.com
your-business-articles.com
essaywritingservice10.com
hindusamaaj.com
joggingvideo.com
wandercoups.com
onlinenewsofindia.com
worldgraphic-team.com
bnsrz.com
wormblaster.net
tongchengchuyange0004.com
internetknowing.com
breachurch.com
peachesnginburlesque.com
dataarchitectoo.com
clientfunnelformula.com
30pps.com
cherylroll.com
ks2252.com
webmanicura.com
osostore.com
softsmob.com
sofietsshotel.com
facetorch.com
nylawyerreview.com
apapromotions.com
shareparelli.com
goeaglepointe.com
thegreenmanpubphuket.com
karotorossian.com
publicsensor.com
taiwandefence.com
epcsur.com
odskc.com
inzziln.info
leaiiln.info
cq-oa.com
dqtianshun.com
southstills.com
tvtv98.com
thewellington-hotel.com
bccaipiao.com
colectoresindustrialesgs.com
shenanddcg.com
capriartfilmfestival.com
replicabreitlingsale.com
thaiamarinnewtoncorner.com
gkmcww.com
mbnkbj.com
andrewbrennandesign.com
cod54.com
luobinzhang.com
bartoysdirect.com
taquerialoscompadresdc.com
aaoodln.info
amcckln.info
drvrnln.info
dwabmln.info
fcsjoln.info
hlonxln.info
kcmeiln.info
kplrrln.info
fatcatoons.com
91guoys.com
signupforfreehosting.com
faithfirst.net
zjyc28.com
tongchengjinyeyouyue0004.com
nhuan6.com
oldgardensflowers.com
lightupthefloor.com
bahamamamas-stjohns.com
ly2818.com
905onthebay.com
fonemenu.com
notanothermovie.com
ukrainehighclassescort.com
meincmagazine.com
av-5858.com
yallerdawg.com
donkeythemovie.com
corporatehospitalitygroup.com
boboyy88.com
miteinander-lernen.com
dannayconsulting.com
officialtomsshoesoutletstore.com
forsale-amoxil-amoxicillin.net
generictadalafil-canada.net
guitarlessonseastlondon.com
lesliesrestaurants.com
mattyno9.com
nri-homeloans.com
rtgvisas-qatar.com
salbutamolventolinonline.net
sportsinjuries.info
topsedu.xyz
xmxm7.com
x332.xyz
sportstrainingblog.com
autopartspares.com
readguy.net
soniasegreto.com
bobbygdavis.com
wedsna.com
rgkntk.com
bkkmarketplace.com
zxqcwx.com
breakupprogram.com
boxcardc.com
unblockyoutubeindonesia.com
fabulousbookmark.com
beat-the.com
guatemala-sailfishing-vacations-charters.com
magie-marketing.com
kingstonliteracy.com
guitaraffinity.com
eurelookinggoodapparel.com
howtolosecheekfat.net
marioncma.org
oliviadavismusic.com
shantelcampbellrealestate.com
shopleborn13.com
topindiafree.com
v-visitors.net
qazwsxedcokmijn.com
parabis.net
terriesandelin.com
luxuryhomme.com
studyexpanse.com
ronoom.com
djjky.com
053hh.com
originbluei.com
baucishotel.com
33kkn.com
intrinsiqresearch.com
mariaescort-kiev.com
mymaguk.com
sponsored4u.com
crimsonclass.com
bataillenavale.com
searchtile.com
ze-stribrnych-struh.com
zenithalhype.com
modalpkv.com
bouisset-lafforgue.com
useupload.com
37r.net
autoankauf-muenster.com
bantinbongda.net
bilgius.com
brabustermagazine.com
indigrow.org
miicrosofts.net
mysmiletravel.com
selinasims.com
spellcubesapp.com
usa-faction.com
snn01.com
hope-kelley.com
bancodeprofissionais.com
zjccp99.com
liturgycreator.com
weedsmj.com
majorelenco.com
colcollect.com
androidnews-jp.com
hypoallergenicdogsnames.com
dailyupdatez.com
foodphotographyreviews.com
cricutcom-setup.com
chprowebdesign.com
katyrealty-kanepa.com
tasramar.com
bilgipinari.org
four-am.com
indiarepublicday.com
inquick-enbooks.com
iracmpi.com
kakaschoenen.com
lsm99flash.com
nana1255.com
ngen-niagara.com
technwzs.com
virtualonlinecasino1345.com
wallpapertop.net
nova-click.com
abeautifulcrazylife.com
diggmobile.com
denochemexicana.com
eventhalfkg.com
medcon-taiwan.com
life-himawari.com
myriamshomes.com
nightmarevue.com
allstarsru.com
bestofthebuckeyestate.com
bestofthefirststate.com
bestwireless7.com
declarationintermittent.com
findhereall.com
jingyou888.com
lsm99deal.com
lsm99galaxy.com
moozatech.com
nuagh.com
patliyo.com
philomenamagikz.net
rckouba.net
saturnunipessoallda.com
tallahasseefrolics.com
thematurehardcore.net
totalenvironment-inthatquietearth.com
velislavakaymakanova.com
vermontenergetic.com
sizam-design.com
kakakpintar.com
begorgeouslady.com
1800birks4u.com
2wheelstogo.com
6strip4you.com
bigdata-world.net
emailandco.net
gacapal.com
jharpost.com
krishnaastro.com
lsm99credit.com
mascalzonicampani.com
sitemapxml.org
thecityslums.net
topagh.com
flairnetwebdesign.com
bangkaeair.com
beneventocoupon.com
noternet.org
oqtive.com
smilebrightrx.com
decollage-etiquette.com
1millionbestdownloads.com
7658.info
bidbass.com
devlopworldtech.com
digitalmarketingrajkot.com
fluginfo.net
naqlafshk.com
passion-decouverte.com
playsirius.com
spacceleratorintl.com
stikyballs.com
top10way.com
yokidsyogurt.com
zszyhl.com
16firthcrescent.com
abogadolaboralistamd.com
apk2wap.com
aromacremeria.com
banparacard.com
bosmanraws.com
businessproviderblog.com
caltonosa.com
calvaryrevivalchurch.org
chastenedsoulwithabrokenheart.com
cheminotsgardcevennes.com
cooksspot.com
cqxzpt.com
deesywig.com
deltacartoonmaps.com
despixelsetdeshommes.com
duocoracaobrasileiro.com
fareshopbd.com
goodpainspills.com
kobisitecdn.com
makaigoods.com
mgs1454.com
piccadillyresidences.com
radiolaondafresca.com
rubendorf.com
searchengineimprov.com
sellmyhrvahome.com
shugahouseessentials.com
sonihullquad.com
subtractkilos.com
valeriekelmansky.com
vipasdigitalmarketing.com
voolivrerj.com
zeelonggroup.com
1015southrockhill.com
10x10b.com
111-online-casinos.com
191cb.com
3665arpentunitd.com
aitesonics.com
bag-shokunin.com
brightotech.com
communication-digitale-services.com
covoakland.org
dariaprimapack.com
freefortniteaccountss.com
gatebizglobal.com
global1entertainmentnews.com
greatytene.com
hiroshiwakita.com
iktodaypk.com
jahatsakong.com
meadowbrookgolfgroup.com
newsbharati.net
platinumstudiosdesign.com
slotxogamesplay.com
strikestaruk.com
trucosdefortnite.com
ufabetrune.com
weddedtowhitmore.com
12940brycecanyonunitb.com
1311dietrichoaks.com
2monarchtraceunit303.com
601legendhill.com
850elaine.com
adieusolasomade.com
andora-ke.com
bestslotxogames.com
cannagomcallen.com
endlesslyhot.com
iestpjva.com
ouqprint.com
pwmaplefest.com
qtylmr.com
rb88betting.com
buscadogues.com
1007macfm.com
born-wild.com
growthinvests.com
promocode-casino.com
proyectogalgoargentina.com
wbthompson-art.com
whitemountainwheels.com
7thavehvl.com
developmethis.com
funkydogbowties.com
travelodgegrandjunction.com
gao-town.com
globalmarketsuite.com
blogshippo.com
hdbka.com
proboards67.com
outletonline-michaelkors.com
kalkis-research.com
thuthuatit.net
buckcash.com
hollistercanada.com
docterror.com
asadart.com
vmayke.org
erwincomputers.com
dirimart.org
okkii.com
loteriasdecehegin.com
mountanalog.com
healingtaobritain.com
ttxmonitor.com
bamthemes.com
nwordpress.com
11bolabonanza.com
avgo.top