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The rate of self-reported mental distress and depression among American adults who identify as transgender or gender-diverse (TGD) has more than doubled between 2014 and 2022, an analysis of federal health data reveals. During that time, “a record number of enacted laws has threatened the rights and protections of TGD people, including restricting access to gender-affirming care and permitting discrimination in public accommodations,” noted a team of researchers led by health care policy investigator Michael Liu, of Harvard Medical School. The findings are published June 24 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. Liu’s team tracked survey data from the federal government’s ongoing Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which follows the self-reported physical and mental health of U.S. adults over time. The analysis started in 2014, the first year in which gender identity was added to the survey, and tracked data through 2022. Liu’s team found that the “prevalence of frequent mental distress increased from 18.8% in 2014 to 38.9% in 2022” among transgender or gender-diverse people. In contrast, the rise in mental distress was less steep among cisgender people — from 11.2% to 15.5%. Depression rates among transgender and gender-diverse adults also rose sharply between 2014 and 2022 — more than doubling from 19.7% to 51.3%, Liu’s group found. Over the same time period, depression rates among cisgender adults rose only slightly, from 18.6% to… read on > read on >