[NYAPRS Enews] Study: Gays/Lesbians More Likely To Seek MH Treatment; Discrimination/Stress Factors

[Matt Canuteson]

NYAPRS Note: Recently released research from the UCLA School of Public
Health has found that gays, lesbians and bisexuals are as twice as
likely to seek mental health treatment than heterosexuals. Researchers
parsed data on more than 2,000 people and found that 48.5% of lesbian,
gay, or bisexual individuals surveyed had received therapy in the last
year, but that only 22.5% of heterosexuals had. 

Among the researchers' conclusions: "The findings showed that minority
sexual orientation predisposes individuals to seek out services, despite
pervasive barriers that exist within the service delivery system that
might even discourage their use by this population." 

The study can be found:

http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-244x-9-52.pdf

This important topic will be covered in a workshop at the NYAPRS 27th
Annual Conference being held September 16-18, 2009 at the Hudson Valley
Resort:

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Mental Health Consumers: Sexual and
Gender Minority Issues  

Bert Coffman, Center for Urban Community Services, Inc., New York, NY

Track: Cultural Competence

To see the printed version of the announcement, please go to
http://www.nyaprs.org/PDF/NYAPRS_09_Conf%20Announcement_final.pdf. 

For registration materials, you can go to
http://www.nyaprs.org/PDF/NYAPRS_09_Conf%20Reg_final.pdf. 

Note: most rates cover the full cost of all programs, lodging, meals,
special activities and healing opportunities.  


 


Gays, Lesbians More Likely To Seek Mental Health Services, Study
Finds-Greater Levels Of Discrimination, Stress May Be Factors,
Researchers Say


By Sarah Anderson UCLA News August 14th 2009

 

Lesbians, gays and bisexuals are twice as likely as heterosexual men and
women to seek help from mental health professionals, according to a new
study by the UCLA School of Public Health. 

 

The study, published today in the journal BMC Psychiatry, examines the
relationship of gender and sexual orientation to the use of services to
treat psychiatric problems such as mental health and alcohol and drug
disorders.

 

Researchers collected data on 2,074 people, who were first interviewed
in the California Health Interview Survey, in a new survey known as the
California Quality of Life Survey. They found that 48.5 percent of
lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals reported receiving treatment in
the past year, compared with 22.5 percent of heterosexuals. Overall,
lesbians and bisexual women were most likely to receive treatment, and
heterosexual men were least likely.

 

While men and women, regardless of sexual orientation, who had an
alcohol and/or drug disorder showed no significant differences in
treatment rates, the study found that lesbian and bisexual women who had
not been diagnosed with mental and drug disorders were more likely to
seek mental health counseling than heterosexual women. This is
consistent with emerging findings from national surveys showing that
many individuals who receive mental health treatment do not have a
diagnosable disorder but may have other symptoms, such as psychological
distress or impairments in functioning, that lead them to seek care.

 

The researchers considered several factors that may explain these
findings. Discrimination, violence and other stressful life events may
be greater among sexual and gender minorities, they said, and
homosexuality and issues associated with it may be construed as mental
health problems - particularly among racial and ethnic minorities -
which may encourage people to seek treatment. Further, in gay and
lesbian communities, therapeutic services are considered appropriate
places for coping with the stresses associated with being a sexual
minority.

 

"It is well known that health services utilization is greater among
women generally," said Susan Cochran, professor of epidemiology at the
UCLA School of Public Health and one of the study's authors. "Here we
have shown that minority sexual orientation is also an important
consideration. Lesbians and bisexual women appear to be approximately
twice as likely as heterosexual women to report having received recent
treatment for mental health or substance use disorders."

 

However, the study found that ethnic and racial minorities overall were
less likely to utilize mental health or substance use-related services.
African Americans and Hispanics may underutilize services for mental
health and substance use problems for a variety of reasons, including a
lack of familiarity with the types of services available, prior negative
experiences with service providers, or because of greater stigma
attached to use of these services by their families and communities.

 

According to the study authors, the findings show that minority sexual
orientation predisposes individuals to seek out mental health services.
The findings also have implications for the allocation of public funding
for the provision of public mental health and substance abuse treatment.
The authors suggest that service planning and public policy experts
interested in cost of care should take into consideration the effects of
environmental and life stressors, including experiences of
discrimination, violence, and hate crimes, in incurring mental health
costs not only to the individual but to society.

 

Further, the study points to the need to examine how the treatment of
individuals who do not have diagnosable disorders may reduce the
likelihood that they will develop greater severity of distress,
disorders or impairments in functioning in the future. Lastly, a better
understanding of the factors that lead sexual minorities, and especially
lesbians and gay women, to seek treatment may generate knowledge that
can be used to improve delivery of treatment to those who would benefit
from it or who currently do not take advantage of mental health
resources.

 

Cochran was joined on this study by her colleagues Vickie M. Mays, also
of the School of Public Health, and Christine Grella and Lisa Greenwell
of the Integrated Substance Abuse Program at the Semel Institute for
Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. 

 

The UCLA School of Public Health <http://www.ph.ucla.edu/>  is dedicated
to enhancing the public's health by conducting innovative research,
training future leaders and health professionals, translating research
into policy and practice, and serving local, national and international
communities. 

 

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/sexual-minorities-are-more-likely-9
8582.aspx

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://kilakwa.net/pipermail/nyaprs_kilakwa.net/attachments/20090817/c39737fd/attachment.html>