Lgbtq+ mental health issues
Mental Health Challenges of Diverse Kids
If you have a child who’s LGBTQ+ you may worry about whether they’re getting the help they need to be safe and healthy. You may be aware that LGBTQ+ kids are at higher risk than other kids for developing mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. They also acquire higher rates of contemplating, attempting, and dying by suicide.
That’s why it’s significant to understand what factors make an LGBTQ+ juvenile person more or less likely to develop a mental health problem, including considering or attempting suicide.
Being LGBTQ+ doesn’t cause mental health problems — and is not caused by mental health problems. Rather, these kids’ increased uncertainty of developing mental health problems stems from exposure to factors like rejection, bullying, discrimination, and hostility. While acceptance of Queer kids has increased over the last few decades, the current political backlash has caused many of them to feel less secure.
In a 2024 Trevor Project poll of 18,000 LGBTQ+ youth between the ages of 13 and 24 years old, 90 percentsaid their well-being was negatively impacted due to recent politics — and 53 perc
LGBTQIA+ and mental health
life experiences and mental health
Members of LGBTQIA+ communities are more likely to face experiences in their lives that can negatively impact their mental health:
Hate crimes
The most common type of loathe crime people in LGBTQIA+ communities experience is verbal abuse. Another problem can be increased rates of bullying that LGBTQIA+ youth experience. The UK National LGBT Survey has shown that 40% of people identifying as LGBTQIA+ experienced verbal harassment or physical violence in the past 12 months.
Furthermore, transgender people are around twice as likely to experience threats of physical or sexual harassment or violence compared with the other LGBTQIA+ communities. Experiencing hate crimes, or even just anticipating a hate crime, can lead to Post-Traumatic Emphasize Disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety.
Coming out
Coming out is when a person first tells someone about their sexual and/or gender culture. To some people, it may feel liberating and bring feelings of happiness because they don’t own to conceal their correct identity anymore. However, it can also be a very challenging time. There can be a lot of anxiety aroun
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer identified People and Mental Health
This information was compiled by Rainbow Health Ontario and CMHA Ontario.
What factors impact on mental health?
Socio-economic factors (or determinants) play a key role in mental health and wellbeing for all of us, and are particularly crucial for marginalized populations. Three significant determinants of positive mental health and wellbeing are: social inclusion; freedom from discrimination and violence; and access to economic resourcesi.
All three factors impact LGBTQ individuals and communities in Ontario:
- Bisexual and gender non-conforming people are over-represented among low-income Canadians
- An Ontario-based investigation found that half of trans people were living on less than $15,000 a yearii
LGBTQ people experience stigma and discrimination across their life spans, and are targets of sexual and physical assault, harassment and hate crimesiii
- Hates crimes motivated by sexual orientation more than doubled in Canada from 2007 to 2008, and were the most vicious of all despise crimesiv
- An Ontario-based review of trans people found that 20 per cent had experienced physical or sexual assault due to th
Mental health findings for LGBTQ+ Australians
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LGBTIQ+ people: statistics
LGBTIQ+ stands for queer woman , gay, bisexual, transitioned, intersex, queer or questioning. We’ve used the term LGBTIQ+ on this page, but we realise this doesn’t cover all the ways people define their gender or sexuality. Stonewall has a glossary that lists many more terms.
Mental health problems such as depression, self-harm, alcohol and drug abuse and suicidal thoughts can influence anyone, but they’re more common among people who are LGBTIQ+.
Being LGBTIQ+ doesn’t cause these problems. But some things LGBTIQ+ people proceed through can influence their mental health, such as discrimination, homophobia or transphobia, social isolation, rejection, and difficult experiences of coming out.
It’s important to observe that embracing existence LGBTIQ+ can acquire a positive impact on someone’s well-being too. It might mean they own more confidence, a sense of belonging to a society, feelings of relief and self-acceptance, and better relationships with friends and family.
What issues might LGBTIQ+ people face?
Mental health issues
Being LGBTIQ+ doesn’t automatically mean someone will have mental health issues but may mean they’re at higher chance of experiencing unfortunate mental he