Mental Health for Gay and Bisexual Men | CDC

Contents:

• DEPRSN AND SUICIDALY GAY MEN: IMPLITNS FOR HEALTH CARE PROVIRS
• DEPRSN IS KILLG GAY MEN
• GAY MEN’S DEPRSN COPG GUI
• ASSSMENT AND TREATMENT OF PRSN GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN EMERGENCY SETTGS
• DEPRSN GAY MEN: HOW TO OVERE AND BEAT GAY DEPRSN
• GAY MENTAL HEALTH: MENTAL HEALTH ISSU FACG GAY MEN

DEPRSN AND SUICIDALY GAY MEN: IMPLITNS FOR HEALTH CARE PROVIRS

Mental health unselg and support groups that are sensive to the needs of gay and bisexual men n be pecially eful if you are g to terms wh your sexual orientatn or are experiencg prsn, anxiety, or other mental health problems. While many gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex wh men may not seek re om a mental health provir bee of a fear of discrimatn or homophobia, is important to keep this as an optn and to fd a provir that is tstworthy and patible. Related to this, gay men’s health has often been fed by sexual practic, and poorly unrstood are the tersectns of gay men’s physil and mental health wh social termants of health cludg ethnicy, lole, tn level, and socenomic stat.

In the current article summated is lerature addrsg risk factors for prsn and suicidaly among gay men cludg fay acceptance of their sexual inti, social hn and belongg, ternalized stigma, and victimizatn. Barriers to gay men’s help seekg are also discsed tailg how health re provirs might advance the well-beg of this unrserved subgroup by effectively addrsg prsn and suicidaly.

DEPRSN IS KILLG GAY MEN

Keywords: gay men’s health, prsn, suicidaly, men’s health, men’s help seekgIntroductnDeprsn is prevalent among gay men, where gay men are three tim more likely to experience prsn pared wh the general adult populatn (Cox, 2006; Kg et al., 2008).

Wh this ntext, there is strong evince that gay men are more likely than heterosexual men to experience suicidaly (Brennan, Ross, Dobson, Veldhuizen, & Steele, 2010; Hott, Bogaert, Rhos, Brennan, & Gk, 2016; Kg et al., 2008). Deprsn and suicidaly may also crease gay men’s risk of alhol and dg ovese, unprotected anal terurse, and human immunoficiency vis (HIV; Cox, 2006; Ferlatte, Dulai, Hott, Tssler & Marchand, 2015).

In terms of potential of prsn and suicidaly gay men, relatnship problems, acceptg one’s homosexualy, experiencg homophobia, stutnal discrimatn, and alienatn om gay muni have been reported as unrpng issu (Cox, 2006; Haas et al., 2011; Wang, Plörl, Hӓermann, & Weiss, 2015) rearch exists about gay men’s health beyond sexual health issu, most often HIV (Hott, Ferlatte, & Gk, 2014). Though gay men self-report that they rank mental health as one of their top health ncerns (Grov, Ventuneac, Renda, Jimenez, & Parsons, 2013) prsn and suicidaly the liv of gay men are poorly unrstood (Haas et al., 2011; Kg et al., 2008). However, to tap to the potential to rce gay men’s prsn and suici, health re provirs need to be better equipped to discs and evaluate nnectns between prsn, suici, and sexualy.

GAY MEN’S DEPRSN COPG GUI

DeprsnDeprsn is fed clilly as the experience of a prsive mood or loss of tert or pleasure nearly all activi over a 2-week perd, along wh four of the followg symptoms: “chang appete or weight, sleep, and psychomotor activy; creased energy; feelgs of worthlsns or guilt; difficulty thkg, ncentratg, or makg cisns; or recurrent thoughts of ath or suicidal iatn or suici plans or attempts” (Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, 2013). (2008) noted that general practners ed anxiety-related symptoms to intify addnal signs of prsn gay terms of e–effect and triggers for prsn, a range of factors have been tailed, many of which are tertwed wh the strs that n acpany beg part of socially margalized gay muni (Mays & Cochran, 2001; Meyer, 1995, 2003).

ASSSMENT AND TREATMENT OF PRSN GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN EMERGENCY SETTGS

Meyer’s (1995, 2003) mory strs mol highlighted four ternnected factors: (a) prejudice events, (b) expectatns of rejectn and discrimatn, (c) ncealment of inty, and (d) ternalized homophobia.

DEPRSN GAY MEN: HOW TO OVERE AND BEAT GAY DEPRSN

In the specific ntext of prejudice events, which refers to the multiple forms of antigay vlence and discrimatn (Meyer, 2003), a Canadian study reported that 47% of gay men had experienced harassment, 42% bullyg, 16. Deprsn among young gay men has been associated wh prejudice events such as school-based victimizatn (Burton, Marshal, Chisolm, Suto, & Friedman, 2013; Rsell, Ryan, Toomey, Diaz, & Sanchez, 2011). Young gay men n experience prejudice their fay the form of rejectn, often after disclosg their sexual orientatn durg adolcence, which turn n heighten young men’s risk for prsn (Ryan, Huebner, Diaz, & Sanchez, 2009) expectatns of discrimatn and homophobic rejectn n also negatively affect gay men’s mental health (Hatzenbuehler, 2009; Meyer, 2003).

For example, an Amerin study of gay men, those who perceived creased homophobia and the world as dangero for gay men were more likely to report prsive symptoms (Hatzenbuehler, Nolen-Hoeksema, & Erickson, 2008).

This strategy n be exhstg and has been reported to crease the risk of emotnal distrs among gay men (Cohen, Blasey, Taylor, Weiss, & Newman, 2016; Walch, Ngamake, Bovornvakool, & Walker, 2016). Self-acceptance is therefore a cril element for gay men’s well-beg, as is beg accepted by others (Ash & Mackereth, 2013) addn to the four factors tailed Meyer’s (1995, 2003) mory strs mol, a lack of acceptance and rejectn om the gay muny n also crease the risk for gay men’s prsn. Particularly at risk of rejectn om other gay men are men livg wh HIV (Courtenay-Quirk, Wolski, Parsons, Gómez, & Seroposive Urban Men’s Study Team, 2006) as well as men om racial/ethnic mory groups (Bowleg, 2012; Haile, Rowell-Cunsolo, Parker, Padilla, & Hansen, 2014; Riggs, 2012).

GAY MENTAL HEALTH: MENTAL HEALTH ISSU FACG GAY MEN

Gay men livg wh HIV are also at creased risk for prsn across the entire illns trajectory cludg diagnosis of HIV, iatn of HIV treatment, treatment failure, diagnosis of AIDS, and/or havg a iend diagnosed wh AIDS (Körner et al., 2008). Health re provirs workg wh HIV posive gay men have nfirmed that the isolatn and loss of social relatnships and fay support experienced as a rult of this health stat are signifint triggers for prsn (Körner et al., 2008) men who belong to an ethnic mory are at higher risk for prsn. Prsure to nform to such rigid genr norms creat unique discrimatory environments (Guareno, 2007), and gay Hispanic men report higher rat of fay rejectn and negative mental health out pared wh their Csian male unterparts (Ryan et al., 2009).