Mental Health & Minority Stress Model
May is nationally recognized as Mental Health Awareness month, and so we would like to take the opportunity to talk about why mental health disorders disproportionately affect LGBTQ individuals.
There is a common but deeply harmful misconception that mental health and substance use disorders are an inherent part of the “LGBTQ lifestyle,” that LGBTQ people are inherently prone to these health problems on the basis of their LGBTQ identity, and that the community at large encourages substance use and depression. This is not true, and it is a way to blame LGBTQ people for the negative effects that result from discrimination.
LGBTQ people are 2x - 4x likely to experience a mental health disorder compared to their non-LGBTQ peers, especially anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and sucidial ideation. LGBTQ people are also more likely to use alcohol, nicotine, and cannabis. While it is true that certain companies, especially alcohol companies, will specifically target LGBTQ people in their marketing (think of the hard liquor companies that are often sponsoring Pride Festivals in major cities such as NYC and Chicago), this health disparity can be better explained with the Minority Stress Model.
The Minority Stress Model is a public health framework proposed by Ilan H. Meyer in 2003. The model proposes that members of stigmatized minority groups, e.g. LGBTQ people, experience greater levels of stress and discrimination throughout their lives, and this is what leads to mental health disparities. Other minority groups, such as ethnic and racial minorities, are more likely to experience certain health disparities and these can also be understood using the Minority Stress Model. Individuals who hold multiple marginalized identities (i.e. a queer person of color) may feel compounding health disparities due to the relationship between stress and health.
When LGBTQ people experience acceptance from their communities, they show more positive mental health outcomes. The Trevor Project releases an annual report each year on the mental health experiences of LGBTQ youth ages 13 - 24, and have consistently found a correlation between discrimination and negative mental health outcomes, as well as the inverse; support and affirmation lead to better mental health outcomes. For example, as their 2023 report found, “Transgender and nonbinary young people who reported that all of the people they live with respect their pronouns reported lower rates of attempting suicide.” LGBTQ acceptance can have profound positive effects on all LGBTQ people, but young people especially.