By Niku Sedarat
June is Pride Month—a month annually celebrated to commemorate and celebrate the various contributions made by the LGBTQ+ community as well as to honor the community as a whole.
As we all may know by now, mental health challenges are taking a rampant toll on youth all across the world. However, for youth and young adults who belong to the LGBTQ+ community, mental health becomes a disproportionate challenge that they are affected by. It is important to discern that simply identifying as LGBTQ+ is not a mental illness on its own. In fact, this idea is one that does more harm than good as it’s deeply rooted in stigma and prejudice. Rather, the LGBTQ+ community as a whole experiences many social pressures that exacerbate their mental health, often leading to emotional distress.
The social aspect of our experience of mental health cannot be denied. In fact, a credible and highly used theory of psychology called the psychosocial theory confirms this idea, revealing that social and psychological well-being are inextricably tied. According to a report by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and National Public Radio, revealed that more than 57 percent of LGBTQ+ individuals have experienced slurs directed at their identity and 53 percent have experienced some sort of offensive comment. A startling 57 percent also reported that they or an LGBTQ+ loved one has been threatened or have experienced harassment and a trailing 51 percent have experienced violence due to their sexual or gender identity. While sheer statistics cannot encapsulate the social pressures that the LGBTQ+ community experiences, they certainly do speak to the multiple variables that can exacerbate emotional distress for people in the LGBTQ+ community.
Youth in the LGBTQ+ community face similar social and emotional pressures, however, their challenges become slightly more nuanced. According to Harvard researcher, Logan Casey, “Younger LGBTQ people (18-49 years of age) are more likely to say institutions (laws and government policies) are the source of discrimination, whereas older generations (50 and over) are more likely to identify individual prejudice as the problem.” This larger degree of institutional discrimination reveals a bigger challenge: many youth and young adults believe that more facets of their lives, from school to the workplace, are colored by the discrimination they experience at the hands of simply being part of the LGBTQ+ community. At the very least, this perception depicts the tole that society has on the mental health of the LGBTQ+ community, but put broadly, this can create a feeling of fear, distrust, anxiety, and stress solely due to the way society treats your identity—an experience that can breed increased risk to a wide range of mental health challenges.
As a result, teenagers in the LGBTQ+ community are six times more likely to experience symptoms of depression, two times more likely to feel suicidal, and more than four times more likely to attempt suicide as opposed to non-LGBTQ+ identifying teens according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America as well as the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
While there are certainly urgent mental health and social pressures facing the LGBTQ+ community, it is critical to remember that with the right social support systems, members of the LGBTQ+ community are resilient and can thrive on an emotional level. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health issues, you are not alone. Find free mental health resources for the LGBTQ+ community here: general mental health resources (uniteyouthmentalhealth.com/resources)
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