Time to Think, Hannah Barnes
Time to Think, Hannah Barnes
List: $31.99 | Sale: $22.40
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Time to Think
The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children

Author: Hannah Barnes

Narrator: Hannah Barnes

Unabridged: 17 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/23/2023


Synopsis

UPDATED WITH A NEW CHAPTER

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING

'This is what journalism is for' - Observer

Time to Think goes behind the headlines to reveal the truth about the NHS's flagship gender service for children.

The Tavistock's Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) was set up initially to provide talking therapies to young people who were questioning their gender identity.

But in the last decade GIDS referred around two thousand children, some as young as nine years old, for medication to block their puberty. In the same period, the number of referrals exploded and the profile of the patients changed: from largely pre-pubescent boys to mostly adolescent girls, who were often contending with other difficulties. Was there enough clinical evidence to justify such profound medical interventions?

This urgent, scrupulous and dramatic book explains how GIDS has been the site of a serious medical scandal, in which ideological concerns took priority over clinical practice. It is a disturbing and gripping parable for our times.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mike on February 26, 2023

This is not an easy book to read - but it's important that it was written and published. Hannah Barnes strikes a balanced, journalistic tone throughout the sorry tale of a pioneering NHS unit becoming ensnared in a crisis not wholly of its own making, but then doubling-down on idealogical grounds an......more

Goodreads review by Megan on May 31, 2023

Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children” is a very thorough and well-researched book about the dangers which can accommodate such a rare and specialized health service - especially one being provided to young people, with no clinical research da......more

Goodreads review by Doctor on January 03, 2024

I read this book following a clinical encounter whilst I worked in general practice. It involved a patient that was transitioning from female to male and were on ‘cross-sex’ hormones. It was a little unusual, because I had expected the hormonal therapies to be managed by specialist endocrinologists.......more

Goodreads review by Yoni on August 24, 2023

The book focuses on the current moral panic around the treatment and/or transition of gender dysphoric children, with the focal point being the UK-based Tavistock Trust's Gender Service for Children (GIDS). Barnes writes compellingly on the risks of quick referrals to puberty blockers after insuffic......more

Goodreads review by Hannah on March 10, 2023

A fascinating insight into the operation of GIDS. It is clearly an extremely well-researched book. However, I did feel as if there was a fair amount of repetition in terms of detailing the views of those interviewed, and their concerns. As a result I felt the book was somewhat longer than necessary.......more