Mental Health for Gay and Bisexual Men | CDC

Contents:

• GAY MEN’S DEPRSN COPG GUI
• DEPRSN IS KILLG GAY MEN
• DEPRSN AND SUICIDALY GAY MEN: IMPLITNS FOR HEALTH CARE PROVIRS
• GAY MENTAL HEALTH: MENTAL HEALTH ISSU FACG GAY MEN

GAY MEN’S DEPRSN COPG GUI

Deprsn is the number one mental health problem the world and gay men, lbians, and bisexuals are up to twice as likely to suffer om prsn as heterosexuals – not bee they ferr human begs (ntrary to some relig teachgs and other opprsn), but bee the cumulative strs of heterosexism and homophobia society, om too-often fay rejectn, to bullyg, to discrimatn, to lack of full legal civil rights, and even the seemgly relentls anti-gay rhetoric om nservative punds the media, tak an emotnal toll over many years that n ntribute to low self-teem, a poor sense-of-self, and even clil prsn.

A meta-study (study of studi) revealed lbian, gay and bisexual people are 1½ tim more likely to be prsed and twice as likely to attempt suici, which is why rourc like The Trevor Project were veloped to support gay youth. The ntributns to the velopment of prsn, addn to a geic propensy your fay and natural bra chemistry, n be both homophobia and isolatn, which is why I offer ssns -person and via phone and Skype, for guys who don’t have lol accs to a gay-specialist therapist/ach your area.

It also velops cril thkg skills (learng to thk for yourself and not jt believe everythg you’ve been doctrated to believe by anti-gay forc relign, polics, genr role expectatns, etc. Rearchers believe that the general cultural propensy for gay men, pecially the “gay urban centers”, to eat well and work out regularly plays a part prsn regulatn, as long as ’s short of the “body fascism” prsure we n be unr at tim, too.

DEPRSN IS KILLG GAY MEN

Lobby when you n (wre/email/ll) to your ernment reprentativ (lol/state/feral) and ask for more five rearch mental health for our muny; there is by far not enough gay-affirmative (as opposed to the uhil, effective, and harmful “reparative” therapy, aka “sexual orientatn change efforts”) gog on. Of urse, the marriage qutn, even when you have that legal optn your state, is plited, and I help gay upl prepare for that step their relatnship (or cidg to make their home together) my “Allied Down the Aisle” program for upl. The 2013 fifth edn of the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn's Diagnostic and Statistil Manual (DSM) f prsn clilly as a prsive mood or loss of tert or pleasure nearly all activi over a two-week perd, along wh four of the 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.

Health re provirs workg wh gay men should first tablish rapport and tst by displayg empathy and not makg assumptns about an dividual’s behavr and sexual choic based on generalizatns about “all” gay men. Speakg openly and ankly about the disproportnate impact of prsn on gay men, and prrizg our mental health and well-beg, we n chase that big gray elephant out of the room—and keep om harmg any more of . 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.

DEPRSN AND SUICIDALY GAY MEN: IMPLITNS FOR HEALTH CARE PROVIRS

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. 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).

GAY MENTAL HEALTH: MENTAL HEALTH ISSU FACG GAY MEN

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). 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). 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. 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.