Mental Health Complications Occur Among LGBTQ+ Individuals
Mental Health issues can affect those in the LGBTQ+ community who often feel their struggles are not acknowledged.
By Anna Laquintano
Mental Healthcare Treatment Helps LGBTQ+ Individuals
Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, averaging 123 suicides per day according to the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention. It was also found that men are more likely to die by suicide than women.
The Trevor Project reports that LGB youth are five times more likely to have attempted suicide than heterosexual youth, and 40 percent of transgender adults have reported making a suicide attempt.
The numbers are alarming, but for members of the LGBTQ+ community, this is the harsh reality of what they struggle with everyday.
“I was just like tormented as a kid so I mean it was a really challenging thing to go through. I was like being bullied for my sexuality. I was super depressed but was never treated for such,” Morgan Woodin, a transgender student from Clarion University, said.
“For me it went to suicide, it went to and being in crisis rehab and living a good life then all of the sudden really being at the very bottom,” Ashton Trent, an individual who had transitioned from female to male said. “I got diagnosed with almost everything from bipolar to borderline personality disorder. I was suicidal for three years.”
Mental illness is currently a very prevalent topic in the United States. During the course of a given year, approximately 43.8 million people will experience some form of mental illness which can often lead to suicide or harming of one’s self or someone else if not treated.
Mental healthcare is one way to work towards lowing these numbers, and for LGBTQ+ members mental healthcare is critical for their overall health.
“I think that especially for the LGBT community, our access to mental health [resources] is so limited. And even in a city like Philadelphia, where there are incredible resources like the Mazzoni Center, Adique Center, like Glee, all of these are here and also we still have such limited resources,”Jacob Glickman, a psychologist at Child Guidance Resource Center, said.
Nancy Greenly, a social worker in North Dakota, has a colleague who dedicated herself to working with LGBTQ+ and their mental health needs. “She started a group named Collatiscope about five or six years ago and was told by the community members that there are no youth who would use that group, there are no youth that would need that group,” Greenly said.
“There’s like 25 people at the group every week as it runs and it’s just a safe place for people who identify as LGBTQ can come, meet, talk. I think that is a prime example of why do they need somewhere safe because they don’t have somewhere safe.”
Resources such as The Trevor Project, Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Mazzoni Center, Attic Youth Center and many more are always available to assist those who are struggling. Help is available and achievable.
By Anna Laquintano
