Mental Health: Closeted Teens More Than Twice As Likely To Attempt Suicide
Examples of individuals who are classified with sexual orientation discordance include people who either identified as gay or lesbian but had sexual contact with only the opposite sex or with both sexes, or individuals who identified as heterosexual but had sexual contact with only the same sex or with both sexes.
According to the CDC’s Francis Annor, sexual orientation discordance in young people can lead to increased thoughts of suicide, especially if they’re hiding their orientation.
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Suicide among LGBT youth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Researchers have found that attempted suicide rates and suicidal ideation among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth is comparatively higher than among the general population. LGBT teens and young adults have one of the highest rates of suicide attempts. According to some groups, this is linked to heterocentric cultures and institutionalised homophobia in some cases, including the use of rights and protections for LGBT people as a political wedge issue like in the contemporary efforts to halt legalising same-sex marriages. Depression and drug use among LGBT people have both been shown to increase significantly after new laws that discriminate against gay people are passed.
Research on completed suicides in sexual minorities is preliminary. A 2014 study reported that members of the LGBT community had higher rates of all-cause mortality, and those living in areas with a higher degree of social stigma towards homosexuality tended to complete suicide at a younger age. A 2017 follow up failed to replicate these results, and an investigation by the original authors revealed a coding error that, once corrected, eliminated the link between stigma and mortality risk.
Bullying of LGBT youth has been shown to be a contributing factor in many suicides, even if not all of the attacks have been specifically addressing sexuality or gender. Since a series of suicides in the early 2000s, more attention has been focused on the issues and underlying causes in an effort to reduce suicides among LGBTQ youth. The Family Acceptance Project’s research has demonstrated that “parental acceptance, and even neutrality, with regard to a child’s sexual orientation” can bring down the attempted suicide rate. Suicidal ideation and attempts seem to be roughly the same for heterosexual youth as for youth counterparts who have same-sex attractions and behavior but do not identify as being LGBTQ. This correlates with the findings of a large survey of US adults that found higher rates of “mood and anxiety disorders, key risk factors for suicidal behavior”, are linked to people who identify as gay, lesbian, and bisexual, rather than sexual behaviors, especially for men.
The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention notes that there is no national data (for the U.S.) regarding suicidal ideation or suicide rates among the LGBT population as a whole or in part, for LGBT youth or LGBT seniors, for example. In part because there is no agreed percentage of the national population that is LGBTQ, or even identifies as LGBTQ, also death certificates do not include sexuality information. A 1986 study noted that previous large scale studies of completed suicides did not “consider sexual orientation in their data analyses”.
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Mental Health Leads
Alistair Burt expresses his support for the Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat
Alistair Burt, Minister for Community and Social Care expresses his support for the Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat on its second anniversary. He applauds the hard work and dedication of all organisations and individuals working to make crisis care the best it can be.