LGBTQ+

Someone you love or care for very much has shared with you that they want to “transition”. What does it mean and what do you do now?
The headlines and the CDC report are indeed alarming, but they should serve as a wakeup call to all of us. Yes, we should think seriously about why we are seeing a steep decline in the mental health of teenage girls, but we have to come together now as parents, family, friends, educators, clinicians, providers, and as a society to support, enhance and establish more preventive measures for our youth.

This blog was originally posted on Ten Percent Happier on April 22, 2022 and is reprinted here with permission

According to the latest mental health statistics from the Trevor Project’s 2021 Youth Mental Health National Survey, 42% of LGBTQ youth reported that they seriously contemplated suicide during the pandemic. Additionally, these youth experienced elevated rates of anxiety and depression due to social isolation as many were unable to further their gender and sexual identity development and expression due to a lack of accepting and affirming environments that were open during the pandemic.
According to the latest mental health statistics from the Trevor Project’s 2021 Youth Mental Health National Survey, 42% of LGBTQ youth reported that they seriously contemplated suicide during the pandemic. Additionally, these youth experienced elevated rates of anxiety and depression due to social isolation as many were unable to further their gender and sexual identity development and expression due to a lack of accepting and affirming environments that were open during the pandemic.
Erika J. Vivyan, PhD 

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent increased awareness of systemic racism have left me, a white psychologist, at a loss for words. I wanted to write a post for other anti-racist allies who are also struggling to voice and act in increasingly anti-racist ways both personally and professionally.

Stephanie Woodrow, LCPC, NCC

In the early 2000s, patients started reporting a new worry to their OCD therapists: what if I’m gay? This thought was often prefaced by patients declaring that they weren’t homophobic, but the fear was still there. The theme was dubbed homosexual OCD or HOCD.

Sarah A. Hayes-Skelton, PhD and David W. Pantalone, PhD

People who identify as sexual (i.e., lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer) or gender (i.e., transgender, genderqueer, non-binary) minorities have similar symptoms of anxiety and depression as heterosexual and cisgender (non-transgender) individuals.

Brad Brenner, PhD

Updated October 2020