When regret feels worse than rejection
Detransitioners say the biggest suicide risk among their peers is not social rejection—it is the moment they grasp that surgery has left them “horrifically mutilated” and still depressed. “I believe the true main cause is realizing they have horrifically mutilated their bodies and the depression has not been cured.” – Remainselusive source [citation:5dfd7fcf-d85d-4e40-8039-bd7c9aa28a7b]
Why regret stories stay hidden
Many families, clinicians, and media outlets publicly blame bullying or transphobia, so the regret narrative is rarely heard. Detransitioners report that some peers take their own lives precisely because they cannot face what they allowed to be done to their bodies. “A lot of trans people regret their decision… So why don’t we hear more of these stories? Because they’ve committed suicide.” – [deleted] source [citation:2826e346-aadd-4ef0-b5d5-49e3d8b74253]
The “inevitability” message
Detransitioners criticize the common claim that without transition, suicide is unavoidable. They say this framing pressures people into irreversible steps and then hides any regret-related deaths behind the banner of social non-acceptance. “If a kid kills themself because of not being able to live as the other gender… it’s because people have convinced them that they can have a brain that doesn’t match their body instead of teaching them that there’s nothing wrong with their body.” – [deleted] source [citation:142d7333-a6f4-48e8-9d3f-cc1222e3dd17]
Self-blame, not society-blame
Among themselves, detransitioners describe intense self-reproach: “I fucked up really hard and I’m the only one to blame. I was stupid and delusional about the whole trans stuff.” – throwawayac101010 source [citation:99644b0d-c22b-4221-8a19-18c1e79fe953] They emphasize that the despair comes from personal recognition of bodily harm, not from outside rejection.
Take-away
Detransitioners report that post-transition suicides rooted in regret are routinely re-labelled as the result of social intolerance. Inside their community, the dominant explanation is far more intimate: irreversible medical changes failed to heal underlying pain, leaving people feeling trapped in bodies they can no longer reclaim.