Summary

Elie Vandenbussche surveyed 237 people from online detransition communities about why they stopped transitioning and what help they needed. Most were young women, many with depression, anxiety or other diagnoses, and about a third had transitioned only socially. 70% came to see their gender distress as linked to other issues, and half said transition had not helped. People needed help with other mental health problems, regret and inner shame about being gay, medical help to stop hormones, and contact with other detransitioners. Only 18% felt properly supported, and many described dismissive clinicians and rejection by LGBT+ communities. It is useful evidence about online detransition spaces, but the volunteers were mostly female and their answers couldn't be checked, so they don't represent all detransitioners. A 2026 correction clarified who was included and dropped one comparison.

Key findings

• 237名去过渡者参与：92%为女性，平均年龄25岁，51%来自美国。65%同时进行了社会性和医学过渡，31%只进行了社会性过渡。
• 停止的最常见原因是意识到自己的性别痛苦与其他问题有关（70%）、健康担忧（62%）、过渡没有缓解痛苦（50%）和找到其他应对方式（45%）。43%提到政治观点发生了变化。
• 其他健康问题很常见：54%报告至少有三种已确诊的疾病，最常见的是抑郁（70%）、焦虑（63%）和PTSD（创伤后应激障碍，33%）。
• 45%觉得自己事先没有被恰当地告知治疗对健康的影响。只有18%觉得自己得到了恰当的告知。
• 最常见的需求是获得对与性别痛苦相关的心理健康问题的帮助以及医学过渡之外的选择（各65%），以及应对后悔（60%）。87%希望听到其他去过渡者的故事。
• 只有18%觉得在去过渡期间得到了足够的支持（51%没有，31%不确定）。网络小组、朋友和家人是主要的帮助来源，只有13%从LGBT+或跨性别组织获得了帮助。

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the specific needs of detransitioners from online detrans communities and discover to what extent they are being met. For this purpose, a cross-sectional online survey was conducted and gathered a sample of 237 male and female detransitioners. The results showed important psychological needs in relation to gender dysphoria, comorbid conditions, feelings of regret and internalized homophobic and sexist prejudices. It was also found that many detransitioners need medical support notably in relation to stopping/changing hormone therapy, surgery/treatment complications and reversal interventions. Additionally, the results indicated the need for hearing about other detransitioners' experiences and meeting each other. A major lack of support was reported by the respondents overall, with a lot of negative experiences coming from medical and mental health systems and from the LGBT+ community. The study highlights the importance of increasing awareness and support given to detransitioners.

Conclusion

The aim of the present research was to examine detransitioners' needs and support. The four categories of needs (psychological, medical, legal and social) that were created for sake of clarity in the survey were a simplification of the real complexity of the experiences made by detransitioners and they have their limitations. Nonetheless, these categories enabled the current study to uncover the fact that most detransitioners could benefit from some form of counseling and in particular when it comes to psychological support on matters such as gender dysphoria, comorbid conditions, feelings of regret, social/physical changes and internalized homophobic or sexist prejudices. Medical support was also found to be needed by many, in order to address concerns related to stopping/changing hormone therapy, surgery/treatment complications and access to reversal interventions. Furthermore, the current study has shown that detransitioners need spaces to hear about other detransition stories and to exchange with each other. Unfortunately, the support that detransitioners are receiving in order to fulfill these needs appears to be very poor at the moment. Participants described strong difficulties with medical and mental health systems, as well as experiences of outright rejection from the LGBT+ community. Many respondents have expressed the wish to find alternative treatments to deal with their gender dysphoria but reported that it was impossible to talk about it within LGBT+ spaces and in the medical sphere. These accounts are concerning and they show the urgency to increase awareness and reduce hostility around the topic of detransition among healthcare providers and members of the LGBT+ community in order to address the specific needs of detransitioners.