Gay But Not Happy: The Impact of Queerness on Mental Health
Introduction
Four years prior to his suicide, 16-year-old Bobby Griffith wrote in his diary: "I can 't let anyone find out that I 'm not straight. It would be so humiliating. My friends would hate me, I just know it. They might even want to beat me up. . . . I guess I 'm no good to anyone . . . not even God. Life is so cruel, and unfair. Sometimes I feel like disappearing from the face of this earth" (Miller 88). After realizing he was gay, largely due to societal attitudes and stigma, Bobby underwent an immense struggle to accept himself, and eventually succumbed to his hopelessness.
This tragic case, occurring in 1983, constitutes just one of the countless tragedies regarding LGB (lesbian, gay, and bisexual) mental health. Since then, there have been several research studies that indicate a correlation between queerness and mental illness (Cochran et al. 53, Meyer 685). The majority of these studies have been on queer American subjects, so that is the population for which we can draw scientific conclusions, and I will mainly cover ground in regards to people of that particular milieu. That said, regions that harbor similar social environments could be predicted to have similar effects …show more content…
Furthermore, LGB people are sometimes faced with stigma from mental health professionals themselves, who they often feel judged by and therefore struggle to speak their minds to. Perhaps these circumstances contribute to proven dissatisfaction of sexual minorities with the mental health care services they receive. Cross-tabular analysis of a study from 2000 suggested that “significantly higher percentage of the LGB group was dissatisfied with mental health services than of the [heterosexual] control group,” especially lesbians and bisexual women (Avery
Introduction
Four years prior to his suicide, 16-year-old Bobby Griffith wrote in his diary: "I can 't let anyone find out that I 'm not straight. It would be so humiliating. My friends would hate me, I just know it. They might even want to beat me up. . . . I guess I 'm no good to anyone . . . not even God. Life is so cruel, and unfair. Sometimes I feel like disappearing from the face of this earth" (Miller 88). After realizing he was gay, largely due to societal attitudes and stigma, Bobby underwent an immense struggle to accept himself, and eventually succumbed to his hopelessness.
This tragic case, occurring in 1983, constitutes just one of the countless tragedies regarding LGB (lesbian, gay, and bisexual) mental health. Since then, there have been several research studies that indicate a correlation between queerness and mental illness (Cochran et al. 53, Meyer 685). The majority of these studies have been on queer American subjects, so that is the population for which we can draw scientific conclusions, and I will mainly cover ground in regards to people of that particular milieu. That said, regions that harbor similar social environments could be predicted to have similar effects …show more content…
Furthermore, LGB people are sometimes faced with stigma from mental health professionals themselves, who they often feel judged by and therefore struggle to speak their minds to. Perhaps these circumstances contribute to proven dissatisfaction of sexual minorities with the mental health care services they receive. Cross-tabular analysis of a study from 2000 suggested that “significantly higher percentage of the LGB group was dissatisfied with mental health services than of the [heterosexual] control group,” especially lesbians and bisexual women (Avery