This Tuesday the first report on the health of trans and non-binary people in Spain was presented and the results are clear: the majority have hidden who they are in some sphere of their life out of fear.
The Transaludes surveycarried out by the Carlos III Health Institute, shows that four out of ten people surveyed stated that their health professionals did not know how to care for the group, and one in ten indicated that the personnel who cared for them told them to be Trans or non-binary is a disease. “The data is devastating and we cannot receive it with indifference,” says Paco González, deputy director of the mental health commissioner of the Ministry of Health.
8% of trans and non-binary people do not start hormone replacement treatment for fear of rejection or health barriers. For these reasons, two thirds of the people surveyed who had undergone gender reaffirmation surgery, such as facial feminization, phalloplasty or liposculpture, preferred to go to private healthcare. Additionally, many trans or non-binary people with vaginas have never had a gynecology consultation.
Beyond the health field, Transhealth reveals that nine out of ten participating people hide their gender identity in at least one aspect of their life. Furthermore, among those who have not changed their name on their DNI, half have not done so for fear of rejection from those around them, for not knowing how to do the procedure or for not having the right. Regarding registered sex, it stands out that only 13% of non-binary people have changed that mention; One in two who have not done so say that they would change their sex if there were a third box and another 20% say they prefer to abolish the mention of sex.
The study consisted of an online and anonymous survey that 1,823 trans and non-binary people from all over the country completed. 35% of the participants are trans men, 23% trans women and 42% non-binary people, with an average age of around 26 years.
Mental health and aggression
The minority stress model, formulated for the first time in 2003, states that people who belong to minority groups, such as those who identify with one of the LGTBIAQ+ acronyms, have worse mental health rates due to the discrimination they experience. The results of Transaludeyes They are in line with this theory and show that the population surveyed suffers mental health problems to a greater extent than the average, especially depression – this diagnosis is 11 times more common in study participants than in the general population – and anxiety – 16 times more common. more likely in trans and non-binary people than in the general population.
“The data obtained on ideation and suicide attempts are especially worrying in such a young population, and show that the training of the system to care for the mental health of the group is not only necessary, but urgent,” says María José Belza, the researcher at the Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII).
The study indicates that the different difficulties that trans and non-binary people encounter in their transition increase their risk of suicidal ideation. Medical barriers carry more danger than administrative barriers: obstacles to changing the registration name increase suicidal ideation by 26%, but barriers to surgical transition increase it by 79%.
Attacks
The study indicates that one of the main causes of poor mental health rates is transphobic violence or discrimination based on gender identity that nine out of ten of the people surveyed have suffered throughout their lives. Almost half of the participants have been physically attacked at some point and, in eight out of ten of those cases, the attacks had repercussions on the health of the people violated.
In addition to physical attacks, Transaludes A high number of sexual violence within and outside the couple stands out. Specifically, one in five people reports having suffered an attempted or episode of rape outside their relationship, a number that rises to almost one in four when asked about this type of assault by a current or past partner.
Alex Iglesias, anthropologist – he identifies as neutral – and member of the team that prepared the report, highlights that the data collected reveals a number of attacks “much higher” than the number of people who finally report them, and emphasizes the youth of the sample. : “When we talk about violence they have received throughout their lives, we are talking about lives of 26 years on average.” All of this “shows the need to develop prevention, detection and protection programs against discrimination and violence towards trans and non-binary people in all areas,” the study concludes.
A pioneering and attacked investigation
The team that prepared the report carried out by the ISCIII with the support of the Ministry of Health considers this document “key” to know for the first time the health status of trans and non-binary people throughout the country and that this demographic can “receive services appropriate to their needs.” However, they have encountered obstacles in the recruitment phase of the study: the research suffered attack from feminists transexclusivewhich provided 1,400 fraudulent responses in a period of 48 hours.
Furthermore, in an open field option in the questionnaire, some of the people who provided false information took the opportunity to insult the research or accuse the LGTBIAQ+ group of pedophilia. In response to the boycott, the study team discarded all the answers given once the avalanche of fraudulent responses began and had to switch to exclusively in-person recruitment. “We would have reached double the sample size if they had not boycotted us,” calculates María José Belza, the study’s main researcher.
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