According to a study released this week in The Archives of Sexual Behavior, 81.75% of transgender people questioned suffered from some type of physical aggression during their lifetime, 31.16% perceived discrimination in the workplace and 22.84% attempted suicide at least once.

The study, Transsexual people are frequently victims of aggression and discrimination, used the general definition of the word transsexual as the attainment, by an individual, of the physical characteristics of the opposite sex by means of surgery or hormone therapy.

The interview-based study of 197 individuals of both sexes was conducted and standardized questionnaires were used concerning depression (BDI), social anxiety (SAD) and personality disorders (SCID-II-PQ).

“It seems that female transsexuals have greater difficulties integrating, as they have higher unemployment, a lower level of education and more frequently carry out activities related to prostitution”, points out Guzmán Parra, one of the authors of the study.

Of the total sample, 16.24% met the criteria for depression, 25.89% met the criteria for social anxiety and 22.84% had attempted suicide at least once during their lifetime.

The factor most closely associated with symptoms of depression was the lack of integration in the workplace.

Much progress has been made worldwide towards the treatment of trans individuals but much work is still left to be done.

The researchers of this study hope their findings can help increase the well-being of transgender patients and help them cope with the increase stresses and cases of depression.

“Understanding the social and psychological difficulties that they face may help to design better interventions and prevent the causes of these difficulties”, concludes Guzmán Parra.