Preliminary guidelines related to the treatment of gender confused kids were recently issued by the Endocrine Society. The recommendations include giving children as young as 12, drugs that block puberty to avoid the emotional distress associated with body changes that are not aligned with how the child perceives his or her gender identity. By doing this the hope is that these young teens will have time to decide if they want to go ahead with gender reassignment surgery.

There are no easy choices or solutions here. There are emotional costs to pay by delaying puberty and being physically out of sync with your peers just as there are emotional costs to pay by feeling trapped in the wrong body.

Although controversial, treatment with puberty blocking drugs has been underway in the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Germany and in some clinics in the U.S. Read “Delaying Puberty Could Help Gender-Confused Teens” in New Scientist.