Mental Health Awareness Month: Focusing on the LGBTQ+ Community
As some of us may already know, May is not only the start of summer (at least when I’m writing this, it’s sunny and 27C in the Netherlands) but also mental health awareness month. For May, we will be writing a variety of posts related to mental health awareness, especially from an LGBTQ+ perspective. Be sure to follow our Instagram page, @therapywitholivia_NL, to see more tips and insights!
Mental Health Awareness Month started way back in 1949 to bring more attention to and help others understand mental health issues. At the time, mental health and therapy were incredibly stigmatized, seen as something only ‘crazy people’ experienced who couldn’t be in society. The goal of what started out as a week (and now a whole month!) was to offer enough information to the general public to help fight against that stigma.
Now, 75 years later, we are still fighting against mental health stigma and using the month of May to help break barriers and destigmatize mental health, and seeking support for your mental health. Although the views of mental health have been shifting over the most recent decades, it is essential now more than ever (given the current state of the world, increased polarization, current events happening and seeing it all unfold online, and now damaging and dangerous views regarding mental health/neurodivergency) that we do not hide the importance of mental health awareness, but we share the importance and the impact our mental health has on every single one of us.
As we continue to raise awareness of the universal importance of mental well-being during May, we must realize that these challenges are not experienced equally across all communities. Unfortunately, the LGBTQ+ community, like many minority groups, faces mental health issues at a disproportionately higher rate, often concerning how others respond to them and not based on their identities themselves.
Why does Mental Health Awareness Month still matter?
A common misconception I’ve seen and heard is that there is no longer a stigma against those with mental health issues or for those in therapy; however, this is not true. Sure, more people are open about being in treatment or discussing mental health in general (I mean, there’s a whole genre of therapist influencers nowadays!). Still, the reality of those who live with mental health disorders (bipolar disorders, depressive disorders, PTSD, etc) is much different than what we see online.
As a therapist, I work with a broad scope of people -- with a special focus on trauma, personality disorders, and depression -- and I bear witness daily to the struggles, pain, and stereotyping so many of my clients are met with regularly. While we all hope to live in a world where mental health is taken seriously, that it’s discussed and not hidden away, and not seen as ‘bad’ or ‘crazy’, that’s, unfortunately, not the world we live in.
As long as discrimination, violence, and the denial of basic needs persist due to mental health conditions, the need for Mental Health Awareness Month remains. Until everyone, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education, or location, has access to mental health care, mental health awareness month is a vital necessity.
Through participating in Mental Health Awareness Month, we hope this brings us one step closer to living in an inclusive, understanding, and caring world.
Mental health and the LGBTQ+ community
Unfortunately, the LGBTQ+ community, and all minority communities, face mental health issues at a higher rate than other communities, often related to how others respond or treat them.
Minority Stress Theory
To understand how the LGBTQ+ community experiences higher levels of mental health issues, I will have to introduce the minority stress theory. This is a well-known, well-researched theory, so there’s a lot of information out there. I’ll focus on the general information about this theory, but if you want to learn more about it, I recommend doing a search. You will find plenty of free and accessible content that goes into more detail!
The minority stress theory refers to the higher levels of stress experienced by those in a minority group (race, sexuality, gender identity); however, this isn’t just a bit of stress but chronic exposure to prejudice, discrimination, and stigmatization related to an unchangeable identity. This type of chronic exposure significantly impacts the mental health of the person experiencing it, leading to higher levels of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, fears of safety, even having higher levels of chronic illnesses/health issues (this touches on the somatic, or body, symptoms and effects stress has on the body. We can get into this in another post as I also work as an integrative somatic practitioner).
There are a few primary sources of minority stress, including discrimination, stigma, and prejudice. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community and an expert in working with the community, this shows itself through homophobic/transphobic rhetoric, microaggressions, or just straight up aggression, invalidation of identity, rejection based on your identity, or rejection from certain types of support based on identity.
Once a person experiences chronic stress related to unchangeable aspects of their identity, these can be internalized in forms of internalized homophobia/transphobia, a fear of rejection, going ‘back into the closet’, or even lead to self-harm behaviors or suicide.
Combatting minority stress requires more than just awareness. It requires action. It requires us to ensure that everyone in our community has access to the support they need, whether it's from mental health professionals who understand our unique experiences or from fellow community members who can offer empathy and understanding. This support is not a luxury, but a necessity, and it's something we must fight for every day.
The combination of stigmatization, prejudice, harm, and limited (or even no) access to appropriate care creates a spiral of doom that leaves so many people in the community unwell and uncared for.
The Disparities in Mental Health
Unfortunately, there are significant disparities in mental health for those of us in the LGBTQ+ community. Members of the community are twice as likely to have a mental health disorder than het-cis people; 2.5 times more likely to experience depression, anxiety and substance abuse disorders; even having a higher rate of suicide or attempt suicide, and the rates of suicide increase if a person is transgender, and is even higher if the person is a trans person of color.
This disparity has gone mostly unnoticed by the general public and often feels like it just doesn’t matter. Many of these issues arise not because of someone’s sexuality or gender identity, but because of the response so many of us have received for being queer. And when identity is ignored, avoided, or, what we are seeing now, goes as far as to make identities illegal and something to fear, those of us who share these identities may become fearful of ourselves.
The Importance of Affirming Care
Given the statistics and the world around us, it should come as no surprise to hear that affirming care is not a ‘nice thing’ to find but a necessity. When working with a therapist who understands and affirms LGBTQ+ identities and experiences, clients see faster improvements in what they’ve started therapy for.
Most of this concerns the therapeutic alliance or your relationship and safety with your therapist. When working with a therapist who either shares your identity or affirms your experiences, you’re more likely to build a stronger alliance/relationship with the therapist, which allows for more open and honest conversations, creating more space for change.
As an LGBTQ+ therapist, I’ve come to notice how quickly at ease my queer clients feel with me, which I’ve always related to the fact that I’m open and proud of my identity as a lesbian woman. Simply knowing I’m a part of the community and (more than likely) have some shared experiences has allowed my clients to feel safe, secure, and understood in my space – even when the majority of the time, my clients aren’t working with me for identity-related problems. We’re able to speak the same language and understand each other. My clients don’t feel pressured to explain certain parts of the community to me since I already know and understand. They automatically find a safe and accepting environment to truly be themselves, sometimes for the first time.
Through mental health awareness month, our goal at Therapy with Olivia is to bring attention to how mental health impacts us all, including beyond the mental and emotional parts of us, and into how our body shows us signs regarding our mental health. Bringing attention and awareness to mental health does not ‘glamorize’ it, but to normalize it and get help or support through difficult periods.
There is nothing shameful or embarrassing about asking for help or talking about your mental health. Stigmatization and shame cause more emotional/mental pain that keeps us in a vicious cycle with our mental health and well-being. Get yourself out of that cycle. Contact us to learn how we can help you out of the cycle and how we can support you through your mental health journey.
