Persons in the LGBTQ+ community can face inner and outer battles to either express their true selves or fake a “normal” lifestyle to appease those around them. They might avoid fear and ridicule in the moment, but risk further damage to their overall mental health from hiding their true identity.
LGBTQ+ youth experience greater risk for mental health conditions and suicidality.
LGBTQ+ youth are more than twice as likely to report experiencing persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness than their heterosexual peers.
Transgender youth face further disparities as they are twice as likely to experience depressive symptoms, seriously consider suicide, and attempt suicide compared to cisgender lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and questioning youth.
Also, many people who identify as LGBTQ+ are part of second (and sometimes third or more) community that is marginalized as well. Examples of these groups include BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, or People of Color), people with a physical disabilities people practicing a religion different than their neighbors, and people with low socioeconomic status. These people have complex experiences that are only further complicated by the world around them.
This is because of a historic and thereby systemic fear of people that society has deemed as different or “abnormal.” The more we normalize various lifestyles within our communities and encourage those around us to be their true selves, the more we get to define a new “normal.”
How can we be inviting towards people who identify as LGBTQ?
We know that the LGBTQ+ community is as old as humanity itself. The more we learn about human history the more we discover that the modern world’s marginalization of the LGBTQ+ is relatively new. Historically the community has been included as a part of “normal” sexuality and gender.
So, in order to bring back that safe space, our communities need to do some real work in education and action to encourage the comfort of those within the LGBTQ+ community. Therapy is a tremendous tool that can help change your worldview to be more inclusive of yourself and others around you. If we are able to provide safety for those who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community, offering them the same opportunities as a cis-gender heterosexual person, we will be the momentum to change in a greater sense that could be seen worldwide.
How can we help?
Contact Wilson counseling today at 713-565-0922 to hear more about how LGBTQ+ counseling could be helpful for you or a loved one you know. We all have the responsibility of creating a greater world for future generations, as well as current ones. Just a small amount of effort could make a tremendous impact on others’ lives, and Wilson counseling would love to be the vehicle to that promising future.