“A perfect storm” of factors may have distorted research that is popularizing “gender-affirming” treatments, an Australian researcher says.
In a new scholarly article that cites more than 100 references, Dr. Alison Clayton asserts that expectations of positive results could have influenced studies about hormones and surgeries for gender-questioning youths.
This placebo effect—rather than the treatments themselves—may have caused patients to see improved mental health and quality of life, she says in an article that the Archives of Sexual Behavior published last month.
“Placebo-induced improvements are real and can be robust and long-lasting,” Clayton, a practicing psychiatrist, wrote. She thinks a combination of unusual factors created “a perfect storm environment” that may have nurtured the placebo effect in gender medicine research….