• In one study, a significantly greater percentage of gay/lesbian (87.1%), bisexual (85.4%), and queer+ (86.1%) youth had previously accessed mental health services than heterosexual youth (70.6%).

• The same study found that significantly more bisexual (24.0%) and questioning (21.1%) youth had previously been hospitalized for mental health issues than heterosexual (11.8%) youth.

• Differences in hospitalization between gay/lesbian (15.5%) and queer+ (14.5%) youth and heterosexual youth were not significant.

• The chart shows rates of mental health hospitalization by sexuality.

Use of Mental Health Services and Hospitalizations Among Sexual Minority Youth

• The study found a significant difference in mean depression scores between heterosexual youth (21.8) and bisexual (26.1), questioning (27.1), and queer+ (26.4) youth. There was no significant difference between heterosexual and gay/lesbian (25.1) youth.

• Similarly to depression scores, a significant difference in mean anxiety scores was found between heterosexual (15.5) youth and bisexual (18.8), questioning (18.2), and queer+ (19.0) youth. No significant difference was found between heterosexual and gay/lesbian (17.6) youth.

• A significant difference was found in mean stress scores between heterosexual (21.2) youth and bisexual (24.3) and queer+ (24.0) youth. There was no significant difference observed between heterosexual youth and gay/lesbian (22.6) and questioning (23.4) youth.

• The chart shows the mean scores (using DASS-21) on depression, anxiety, and stress by sexuality.

Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Among Sexual Minority Youth

• The study found that gay/lesbian (18.4%), bisexual (18.1%), questioning (25.9%), and queer+ (18.9%) youth all had significantly higher rates of high suicide risk than heterosexual (9.1%) youth.

• The chart shows the proportion of youth at high risk of suicide (using the SIQ) by sexuality.

Suicide Risk Among Sexual Minority Youth

• While there were no statistically significant differences found between sexual minorities, there were noticeable differences in relation to heterosexual youth.

• Bisexual, questioning, and queer+ youth differed significantly from heterosexual youth far more often than gay/lesbian youth did.

• Bisexual youth were the only ones who differed significantly from heterosexual youth on every measure.

• These differences, while technically not statistically significant between minorities, still show that mental health outcomes vary between minorities. This knowledge should be taken into account in mental health professions in order to better care for patients.

Overall Findings

• The study was conducted on a sample of youth living in Australia who were using the online mental help platform ReachOut.

• The study's use of a sample that was actively using mental health resources may have skewed the numbers in the sample to be higher than in the general population.

• The results also solely apply to young people and did find that mental health outcomes seem to improve with age, particularly when it came to risk of suicide.

• Overall, the study is not particularly generalizable, but is still a valuable source of information on differences in mental health outcomes.

Limitations of the Data

It is well known that sexual minority youth have more negative mental health outcomes than heterosexual youth. However, data suggests that there are important variations in mental health outcomes between certain minority identities as well.

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Various health and life outcomes of mental disorders/mental illnesses. 

Mental Disorders/Mental Illnesses Outcomes

Hilary M. Miller, Bianca L. Kahl, Sophia Garlick Bock & Katherine Guinta. (2021). Minorities within Minorities: Mental Health Outcomes within Sexual Minority Youth, Journal of Bisexuality, 21:4, 516-540, DOI: 10.1080/15299716.2021.2004966

Minorities within Minorities: Mental Health Outcomes within Sexual Minority Youth

Suicidal ideation, thoughts and attempts.

Suicidality

A small but growing literature has examined the health of transgender and gender diverse people, and data suggest that transgender and gender diverse people are at substantially elevated risk for various negative health outcomes compared to cisgender people (i.e., individuals whose sex assigned at birth matches their gender identity).

Differences in Mental Health Problems, Substance Use, Violence, and Related Psychosocial Factors in Youth and Young Adults Between Gender Minorities and Gender Conforming Populations

Differences in Mental Health Outcomes within Sexual Minority Youth

Individuals with a disability experience many types of ableism in their daily lives: one type being microaggressions. Disabled adults who experience microaggressions regularly have lower mental health quality, increased negative affect, and higher somatic symptoms. These microaggressions sustain stereotypes and discrimination against marginalized groups. 

Ableist Microaggressions and the Mental Health of Disabled Adults

More and more students with disabilities are going to college. While this is an overall positive occurrence, research shows that individuals with a disability have overall lower mental health than their nondisabled peers. Students who receive professional and social support have better mental health and less academic issues. 

Mental Health and Professional Help-Seeking Among College Students with Disabilities

About ⅓ of people living on disability status are doing so as a result of a mental health disability. Living on disability is costly as well as encourages those with mental illness to become passive about their health and discourages hope of feeling better. Evidence - based treatments, while effective, are rarely discussed or researched. Policy is so important, but many do not view mental health and disability as areas that need policy improvement. Policy and treatment working in tandem can make or break the experience of having a disability. 

Mental Health Disability: An International Perspective 

While people who hold vulnerable identities are more likely to experience hardship, the highest levels of distress are felt by people whose identities intersect with other marginalized identities such as class, race, gender, and disability status. Not many people realize that this vulnerability extends to natural disasters primarily as a result of poverty, structural disadvantage, and social exclusion. 

The Effects of Disaster on the Mental Health of Individuals with Disabilities

Quality of life as a measure of overall well-being is a popular variable used in psychosocial research. Rarely, however, has it been used when assessing coping, specifically coping with chronic illness and/or a disability. Even less studied is the relationship between community level interventions and personal coping. 

Quality of Life and Coping With Chronic Illness and Disability: A Temporal Perspective

- Self-Diagnosis: How does it occur?
- Self-Diagnosis: Why does it occur?
- Self-Diagnosis: References

Mental Disorders and Self Diagnosis

Reference for A “Scar” of a Mental Disorder

A “scar” of a mental disorder is a term used to describe the lasting effect on the individual’s characteristic approach of feeling, thinking, and interacting with other people due to previously experiencing an acute psychological disorder like major depression disorder or psychosis. This lasting effect can be exhibited by an ongoing subthreshold manifestation of the psychological disorder, such as schizophrenia’s residual phase looking like the traits of schizotypal personality disorder. It can also be exhibited by the formation of new personality traits because of the experience or existence of the psychological disorder, such as developing the traits of dependent personality disorder due to previously experiencing psychotic episodes or recurring panic attacks.

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