Mental health in the lgbtq community
Mental Health In The LGBT Community
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the risk of a mental health condition, like depression, anxiety disorders, or post-traumatic stress disorder, is almost three times as lofty for youth and adults who identify as lesbian, gay, pansexual, or transgender (LGBT) – or those with a sexuality that doesn’t apply to any existing category.
Even more ominous, The Trevor Project reports that suicide – the second leading cause of death for those aged 10 to 24 – is attempted four times more often by gay, lesbian, bisexual, and questioning youth, and suicide attempts by transgender youth are elevated as well. Studies have also shown that gay, lesbian, and pansexual youth are almost twice as likely as their heterosexual peers to abuse drugs and alcohol.
With high rates of suicide and mental health conditions, it’s vitally important that the LGBT society is understood and supported. We analyzed over , records from the CDC’s annual Behavioral Exposure Factor Surveillance System and spoke personally with members of the LGBT community to get an
LGBTIQ+ people: statistics
LGBTIQ+ stands for female homosexual, gay, bisexual, gender non-conforming, intersex, queer or questioning. We’ve used the term LGBTIQ+ on this page, but we realise this doesn’t cover all the ways people define their gender or sexuality. Stonewall has a glossary that lists many more terms.
Mental health problems such as depression, self-harm, alcohol and drug abuse and suicidal thoughts can influence anyone, but they’re more common among people who are LGBTIQ+.
Being LGBTIQ+ doesn’t cause these problems. But some things LGBTIQ+ people move through can impact their mental health, such as discrimination, homophobia or transphobia, social isolation, rejection, and difficult experiences of coming out.
It’s important to write down that embracing creature LGBTIQ+ can contain a positive impact on someone’s well-being too. It might mean they hold more confidence, a sense of belonging to a collective, feelings of relief and self-acceptance, and better relationships with friends and family.
What issues might LGBTIQ+ people face?
Mental health issues
Being LGBTIQ+ doesn’t automatically mean someo
Mental Health Care Needs and Experiences Among LGBT+ People
Key Findings
There has been rising attention to the scope of mental health challenges in the United States, including a desire to better understand the experiences and needs of those who may be most heavily impacted. The LGBT+ community is one such group, having faced lifelong mental health challenges launch in adolescence and persisting through adulthood. While in some cases, LGBT+ people are accessing mental health care more frequently than non-LGBT+ people, their desire for services is greater, and gaps remain. Today, policies seeking to curtail access and rights of LGBT+ people threaten to worsen these disparities, and continuing to monitor the wellbeing of the group will be important.
With this report, we examine LGBT+ people’s needs for and experiences accessing mental health care by analyzing statistics from a nationally characteristic KFF survey with a large sample of LGBT+ adults. Key findings include:
- Two-thirds of LGBT+ people (67%) reported needing a mental health service over the past two years, a conside
Healthy New Jersey
Identifying as homosexual woman, gay, bisexual or lgbtq+, being transgender, questioning one’s sexual identity, or relating to other gender- and sexuality-related subpopulations (LGBTQ+) is not a mental illness. However, the prevalence of mental health challenges is higher in the Homosexual community, compared to the overall population.
While LGBTQ+ individuals make up % of the U.S. population, 39% of this group reported having a mental illness in the past year and they are “at particular risk for experiencing shame, fear, discrimination, and adverse and traumatic events,” as shared by Mental Health America (MHA). Younger individuals in the LGBTQ+ group have an even higher likelihood of depression and anxiety. LGBTQ+ teens are six times more likely to be depressed than their non-LGBTQ+ peers. In addition, LGBTQ+ youth are more than twice as likely to feel suicidal and have more than quadruple the risk of attempting suicide, compared to heterosexual youth.
These statistics underscore the importance of the LGBTQ+ population having access to educa