Misdiagnosis of autism & BPD + Suicide risk in near 80% of transgender/diverse youth

[C C]

Study reveals harrowing experiences of misdiagnosis of borderline personality disorder in autistic adults
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1058004

INTRO: Conducted through interpretive phenomenological analysis, the study involved one-to-one, semi-structured interviews with 10 participants. Each participant recounted unnoticed autistic traits from childhood and described the pervasive impact of a BPD misdiagnosis. The study highlights the challenges of distinguishing between autism and BPD, especially among autistic women, who often face misdiagnosis.

In recent years, a growing number of studies have investigated the connections between autism and BPD, revealing significant overlaps and challenges in distinguishing between these two conditions. Notably, many autistic individuals, particularly women, report being misdiagnosed with BPD... (MORE - details, no ads)

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Emergency department screening identifies suicide risk in nearly 80% of transgender and gender diverse youth
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1058002

INTRO: Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youth are more than five times more likely to screen positive for suicide risk compared to cisgender females, who tend to screen positive at higher rates than cisgender males, according to a study from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago published in the journal Academic Pediatrics. Suicide risk was identified in 78% of TGD youth who were screened in the Emergency Department (ED) from November 2019 to August 2022. One out of four TGD youth had active suicidal thoughts.

“Our study found elevated suicide risk in transgender and gender diverse youth, even in patients who presented to the ED for reasons other than mental health concerns,” said lead author Amanda Burnside, PhD, pediatric psychologist at Lurie Children’s and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Our findings underscore the importance of suicide screening for all youth coming to the hospital, so that we can intervene and connect them to appropriate services.”

Dr. Burnside and colleagues found that among TGD youth who presented to the ED for non-mental health reasons, one out three patients screened positive for suicide risk and one out of 50 had active suicidal thoughts... (MORE - details, no ads)

[Syne]

Children need structure to learn how to be mentally/emotionally stable adults. Removing structures such as gender norms leaves them adrift at a time when they're already struggling to figure out who they are and how they fit into the world.

[Magical Realist]

"Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) students are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide compared to their straight and cisgender peers (Johns et al., 2019; Johns et al., 2020). Negative treatment by others, such as bullying, is a strong and consistent risk factor for youth suicide (Koyanagi et al., 2019), and LGBTQ youth experience bullying at significantly greater rates than their straight and cisgender peers (Reisner et al., 2015; Webb et al., 2021)"=== https://www.thetrevorproject.org/researc...btq-youth/