Clinical and neurobiological effects of exogenous testosterone administration on transgender youth: implications for mood and social development

Testosterone therapy creates masculine secondary sex characteristics for gender-dysphoric transmasculine adolescents, which helps align their physical bodies with their experienced gender identity. This is associated with improvement in mental health outcomes because it allows the young person to experience cohesion between how they experience themselves and how others perceive them. Given the irreversible effects of testosterone therapy, understanding the mechanisms by which it leads to clinical improvement is important.