Few arguments in the debate over transgender healthcare carry more emotional weight than suicide. Parents hear alarming accounts of what might happen if their child does not transition. Advocates describe gender-affirming care as lifesaving. Critics argue that the evidence cannot sustain that claim, and some have labelled the entire narrative a “suicide myth.”

But what, exactly, is supposed to be the myth? That young people with gender dysphoria experience serious distress? That they face an elevated risk of suicide? That medical transition reduces that risk? Or that parents are routinely being pressured into treatment through frightening predictions about their children’s survival? These are different questions, requiring different kinds of evidence. Rejecting an exaggerated claim does not establish that the underlying concern is imaginary. Equally, taking that concern seriously does not establish that a particular treatment prevents deaths.

oining us today is Dr. Tyler Black, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, suicidologist, and clinical assistant professor at the University of British Columbia. His work includes caring for young people in psychiatric crisis and examining how suicide evidence is interpreted and communicated.

Dr. Black has also launched pediatricsuicides.ca, which is a open-access data source for global suicide statistics, covering 138 countries from 1952 to the present day. Today, we’re asking: “Is the Suicide Myth Also a Myth?” What do we know, what remains uncertain, and what should families hear?