(NAMI) - The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex (LGBTQI+) community represents a diverse range of identities and expressions of gender and sexual orientation. In addition to these identities, members of the community are diverse in terms of race, religion, ethnicity, nationality and socioeconomic class. This intersectionality — the combined and overlapping aspects of a persons’s identity — brings diversity of thought, perspective, understanding and experience. This complexity is important to understand as a unique and valuable aspect of the LGBTQI+ community that can result in a strong sense of pride and resiliency.

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While belonging to the LGBTQI+ community can be a source of strength, it also brings unique challenges. For those who identify as LGBTQI+, it’s important to recognize how your experience of sexual orientation and gender identity relates to your mental health.

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Although the full range of LGBTQI+ identities are not commonly included in large-scale studies of mental health, there is strong evidence from recent research that members of this community are at a higher risk for experiencing mental health conditions, especially depression and anxiety disorders. LGB adults are more than twice as likely as heterosexual adults to experience a mental health condition. Transgender individuals are nearly four times as likely as cisgender individuals (people whose gender identity corresponds with their birth sex) individuals to experience a mental health condition.

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For many LGBTQI+ people, socioeconomic and cultural conditions negatively impact mental health conditions. Many in the LGBTQI+ community face discrimination, prejudice, denial of civil and human rights, harassment and family rejection, which can lead to new or worsened symptoms, particularly for those with intersecting racial or socioeconomic identities.

 

Important Risk Factors Of Adult LGBTQI+ Mental Health

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The LGBTQI+ community faces many forms of discrimination, including: labeling, stereotyping, denial of opportunities or access, and verbal, mental and physical abuse. They are one of the most targeted communities by perpetrators of hate crimes in the country. Such discrimination can contribute to a significantly heightened risk for PTSD among individuals in the LGBTQI+ community compared to those who identity as heterosexual and cisgender.

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Substance Use
Substance misuse or overuse, which may be used as a coping mechanism or method of self-medication, is a significant concern for members of this community. LGB adults are nearly twice as likely as heterosexual adults to experience a substance use disorder. Transgender individuals are almost four times as likely as cisgender individuals to experience a substance use disorder. 

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Homelessness
It is estimated that LGBTQI+ young adults have a 120% higher risk of experiencing homelessness — often the result of family rejection or discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. Many members of the LGBTQI+ community face the added challenge of finding homeless shelters that will accept them, and experience elevated rates of harassment and abuse in these spaces.

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Inadequate Mental Health Care
LGBTQI+ people experience discrimination in health care settings including but not limited to lack of cultural competency, harassment and humiliation by providers, and being turned away by hospitals, pharmacists, and doctors. Fear of discrimination can also discourage LGBTQI+ individuals from seeking care. Both circumstances result in LGBTQI+ people not accessing to the mental health care they need and deserve. For example, one study showed that 60% of LGBTQI+  young adults report that there had been a time in the past year when they wanted professional mental health treatment, but were unable to receive it.

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Confronting these barriers and mental health symptoms with an LGBTQI+ inclusive mental health provider can lead to better outcomes, and ultimately recovery.  |  Learn more: www.nami.org