The report, Healthcare experiences, wellbeing and mental health of people who have variations in sex characteristics in Ireland, is a sub report of the landmark Being LGBTQI+ in Ireland report, which was published in May 2024, and provides an analysis of the responses of the 31 respondents to the broader survey who identified as intersex.
The Being LGBTQI+ in Ireland report was a survey of the wellbeing and mental health of the LGBTQI+ community across Ireland.
Intersex is an umbrella term used to describe a variety of conditions in which a person is born with anatomy or physiology that does not fit societal definitions of female or male.
Significant Mental Health Challenges for Intersex People
Amongst the 31 intersex people who participated in the study:
- 61% experienced moderate or severe symptoms of depression
- 68% experienced moderate or severe symptoms of anxiety
- 50% experienced moderate or severe symptoms of stress
- 38% had a possible eating disorder
- 60% had self-harmed
- 74% reported suicidal thoughts with the average age at which participants first thought of ending their own life being 14 years
- 50% had made a suicide attempt
- 50% reported that they were dissatisfied/very dissatisfied with their body
The majority of respondents (70 percent) reported that they had sought help for a mental health problem in the last five years.
Participants revealed in their responses to the research survey that they felt that there was stigma attached to having an intersex variation and that this increased the mental health problems that they experience. How others reacted to their disclosure impacted this more than living with the intersex variation, which was linked to non-acceptance and isolation, as participants felt poorly understood or acknowledged by others, as well as by society’s binary view of gender.
Participants specifically noted that binary ideas of sex and gender, and the perception that those with intersex variations need to conform to these, led to ‘corrective’ surgeries and medical interventions for some participants.
Participants reported various physical and psychological impacts from the medical interventions, including sexual and urinary difficulties, chronic pain, sleep disorders, mental health difficulties, gender dysphoria and issues related to body image. Some participants had questions around the degree to which the intervention was consensual due to a lack of information around the consequences and outcomes of the treatment, while 16 percent reported that they did not know if they had any medical intervention reflecting the lack of transparency that can exist around variations of sex characteristics and related medical treatments.
The ‘Healthcare experiences, wellbeing and mental health of people who have variations in sex characteristics in Ireland’ study can be downloaded here: