{"id":1713226,"date":"2022-10-27T11:33:22","date_gmt":"2022-10-27T15:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1713226"},"modified":"2022-10-27T11:33:39","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T15:33:39","slug":"leading-gender-affirming-psychiatrists-popular-article-updated-after-fact-check-reveals-misleading-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/leading-gender-affirming-psychiatrists-popular-article-updated-after-fact-check-reveals-misleading-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Leading \u2018Gender Affirming\u2019 Psychiatrist\u2019s Popular Article Updated After Fact-Check Reveals Misleading Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fleading-gender-affirming-psychiatrists-popular-article-updated-after-fact-check-reveals-misleading-claims%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1713226&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A popular article claiming to show mental health benefits from \u201cgender-affirming\u201d care has been updated by the publisher after it was shown to contain distortions and misleading information.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Jack Turban, an activist researcher, published an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/political-minds\/202201\/the-evidence-trans-youth-gender-affirming-medical-care\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article<\/a> in Psychology Today in January of this year claiming that scientific studies demonstrate clear mental health benefits of \u201cgender-affirming\u201d care for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/new-insurance-data-reveals-shocking-number-of-minors-obtained-transgender-surgeries\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trans-identifying youth<\/a>, for which he is a strong proponent. However, after a recent thorough <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/researcher-debunks-claim-trans-youths-mental-health-improves-with-gender-affirming-care\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fact-check<\/a> of the article by Manhattan Institute Fellow <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LeorSapir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Leor Sapir<\/a>, the popular psychology website issued numerous updates. This came months after ignoring multiple attempts by experts to quietly address the inaccuracies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNOTE: This post was updated on October 11, 2022. In discussions of studies 5, 7, 8 and 10, the final sentence was appended to include further information about the study,\u201d an addendum at the top of the Psychology Today article now reads.<\/p>\n<p>Turban\u2019s article, cited widely among trans activists to support medically transitioning gender dysphoric minors, references 16 studies that he claims demonstrate gender-affirming care \u201cresults in favorable mental health outcomes\u201d for trans-identifying youth.<\/p>\n<p>Despite being fresh out of his residency and having far less clinical experience than many other experts calling for a more cautious approach to managing gender dysphoria in youth, Turban is widely and frequently quoted by popular legacy media outlets, including the New York Times, as an authority on the topic.<\/p>\n<p>When Sapir found that Turban\u2019s claims of a causal link between \u201cgender affirming\u201d care and positive mental health outcomes were not supported by evidence, he published a rebuttal in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realityslaststand.com\/p\/the-distortions-in-jack-turbans-psychology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Reality\u2019s Last Stand<\/a>, a popular Substack-based online magazine dedicated to the sex and gender debate. Sapir found that some of the studies commonly touted as evidence of the benefits of \u201cgender affirming\u201d care show no or even a negative association between hormones and mental health.<\/p>\n<p>Sapir broke down the 16 studies Turban relied upon and showed how Turban oversold and\/or misrepresented the strength of evidence and misled his readers into embracing the controversial \u201cgender affirmation\u201d protocol. Several of the studies were short-term follow-ups, which by definition cannot capture long-term feelings about medical transition.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After the changes to the Psychology Today article were brought to his attention, Sapir took to Twitter to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LeorSapir\/status\/1584857808742543360?s=20&#038;t=BPm76OBs6j3CIzl772Vqtw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">outline<\/a> the four new \u201ccorrections\u201d and two \u201cstealth edits\u201d made to the report on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>For the first update, regarding Turban\u2019s interpretation of Kaltiala et al.\u2019s 2020 study, Psychology Today included a quote from the study\u2019s authors saying that hormones are \u201cnot enough to improve functioning and relieve psychiatric comorbidities among adolescents with gender dysphoria.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs I mentioned in my fact-check, Kaltiala herself emphasized to me that their study should not be used to claim that hormones reduce suicidality,\u201d said Sapir. \u201cThat is a stronger caveat than the one Turban now acknowledges.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The second update, on van der Miesen et al.\u2019s 2020 study, a note was added that the authors found no \u201cdirect evidence\u201d of mental health benefits from puberty blockers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The third update, having to do with a 2020 study by Achille et al., now acknowledges that the \u201cimprovement\u201d seen in patients only applied to male-to-female trans-identified youth and only to those who took puberty blockers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs I pointed out, however, this group was 1\/3 of the total cohort studied, and represents a minority of those referred for treatment these days,\u201d said Sapir. \u201cWhy not mention this?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A fourth update, which references Turban\u2019s own research from 2020, now acknowledges that his study did not control for psychotherapy as a confounding variable. According to Sapir, this means that \u201cit\u2019s possible those who reported better mental health did so for reasons having little to do with getting hormones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two \u201cstealth edits\u201d that Sapir noticed were in reference to a 2019 study by Allen et al. and a 2021 study by Carmichael et al. With respect to the former, Psychology Today added the sentence, \u201cOf note, the adolescents also received psychotherapy.\u201d Regarding the latter, a caveat regarding the study\u2019s small sample size was removed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs I noted in my fact-check, Turban dismisses studies that found no improvement in mental health when they have low sample sizes, but includes studies with small (or even smaller!) sample sizes when they support his conclusion,\u201d said Sapir.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While Sapir noted that the updates Psychology Today made were a step in the right direction, he felt there were additional inaccuracies not addressed. Most notably, the subtitle, which Psychology Today chose not to alter, reads: \u201cResearch suggests gender-affirming medical care results in better mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhich brings me to the biggest correction that should have, but didn\u2019t, happen: Turban continues to say that 16 studies show, on the whole, that hormones \u2018result in\u2019 better mental health. That\u2019s very misleading causal language. At most, he should have said: \u2018coincides with,&#8217;\u201d said Sapir.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe studies show no evidence of hormones being the cause of improved mental health, even with the often very short follow-up times,\u201d Sapir told The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A popular article claiming to show mental health benefits from \u201cgender-affirming\u201d care has been updated by the publisher after it was shown to contain distortions and misleading information. Dr. Jack Turban, an activist researcher, published an article in Psychology Today in January of this year claiming that scientific studies demonstrate clear mental health benefits of &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1713229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1713226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1713226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1713229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1713226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1713226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1713226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}