Gay illness

gay illness

How a Colorado psychologist proved being gay isn’t a mental illness

For a lengthy time, gay people were considered mentally ill. They were subjected to lobotomies and chemical castration. At the urging of one of her students, analyze psychologist Dr. Evelyn Hooker decided to test this theory, against not only the scientific establishment of the 1950s, but political and societal ones as well.

“She had the forces of religion, the forces of law, and the forces of mental health professionals all saying that's inevitably the way it was. They believed it and they believed it so much that it was startling that she would dare to offer otherwise,” said psychologist, Dr. Glenda Russell, of Louisville, Colorado, who had the opportunity to meet Hooker. Russell is also a keeper of local LGBTQ history.

Evelyn Hooker grew up on Colorado’s Eastern Plains and studied at the University of Colorado Boulder.

“This was a woman who had grown up penniless on the plains of Colorado. This is a woman whose parents, neither of whom went beyond the fourth grade. This is a woman who went to one-room university houses, who was almost just a tad under six feet tall while she was still in school and who was, we w

LGBTplus mental health

LGBT+ people are at a greater risk of poor mental health and wellbeing. This information looks at issues that may affect LGBT+ people’s mental health and how to earn support. This communication is for LGBT+ adults in England. It’s also for their loved ones and anyone interested in this subject.

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Overview

  • LGBT+ stands for sapphic, gay, bisexual and trans. The ‘+’ is an inclusive term for people who don’t fit into traditional categories of gender or sexuality.
  • Research shows that mental health problems are more ordinary in the LGBT+ community. The reasons for this are complex, but we describe some of these below.
  • There are special

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    In the 1950s and 1960s, many therapists offered aversion therapy of the kind featured in A Clockwork Orange to "cure" male homosexuality. This typically involved showing patients pictures of naked men while giving them electric shocks or drugs to build them vomit, and, once they could no longer bear it, showing them pictures of naked women or sending them out on a "date" with a young nurse. Needless to say, these brutal and degrading methods proved entirely ineffective.

    First published in 1968, DSM-II (the second edition of the American classification of mental disorders, and a forerunner of DSM-5) still listed homosexuality as a mental disorder. In this, the DSM followed in a drawn-out tradition in medicine and psychiatry, which in the nineteenth century appropriated homosexuality from the Church and, in what must hold seemed like an élan of enlightenment, promoted it from sin to mental disorder.

    In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) asked all members at its convention to vote on whether they believed homosexuality to be a mental disorder. 5,854 psychiatrists voted to remove homosexuality from the DSM, and 3,810 to retain it.

    The APA then compro

    Why Does the LGBTQIA+ Community Suffer from Needy Mental Health at Higher Rates?

    Everyone has a sexual orientation and gender identity, but people who identify as part of the Lesbian, Gay, Fluid, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA+) community are at higher mental health risk compared to others. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), "LGB adults are more than twice as likely as heterosexual adults to experience a mental health condition. Transgender individuals are nearly four times as likely as cisgender individuals to experience a mental health condition". Many factors aside, this is because many people spotting as LGBTQIA+ face discrimination, family rejection, harassment, and fear of violence.

    "Like with any identity, feeling different—or worse, unaccepted as you are—is a significant peril factor for mental health struggles," says Anna Docherty, PhD, LP, assistant professor of psychiatry at Huntsman Mental Health Institute. "The truth is, most of us experience some significant anxiety or depression in our lifetimes, and we often manage this with social support. Without adequate social support and acceptance, mental health

    LGB people 'more likely to have mental health issues'

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    Lesbian, gay and multi-attracted people are more than twice as likely as heterosexuals to have a long-term mental health condition, an assessment of NHS numbers suggests.

    They are also more likely to drink heavily and smoke, the announce says.

    About 2% of people said they were lesbian, same-sex attracted or bisexual in the 2011-18 Health Survey for England.

    The findings "confirm well-established health inequalities for LGB people", speak rights groups.

    Of the adults surveyed over the eight years, 1,132 or 2%, identified as queer woman, gay or attracted to both genders. Participants weren't asked about trans status or gender persona, but this is being considered for future surveys.

    About 16% of LGB respondents reported having a long-term mental or behavioural disorder, compared with 6% of heterosexual adults.

    LGB people also reported lower average mental well-being scores than heterosexual people, with LGB women having the lowest score of all groups.

    They were also more likely to guzzle more than the recommended units of alcohol.

    One-third of LGB adults drank more than 14 units of alcohol a week, an amount