Over Depression and Mood Disorders among Sexual and Gender Minority Populations

Abstract

<p>Sexual and gender minority (SGM) adults have rates of depressive disorders that are higher than those of cisgender or heterosexual adults. These differences are likely due to the ways that SGMs are treated both on an individual and population basis. This chapter begins by discussing evolving conceptualizations of depressive disorders among SGMs with a focus on the dimensionality in symptomatology. Insights are provided into the ways that differences in risk for depressive disorders occur in SGMs by subpopulations with a focus on gender, developmental stages, and geographic context. The authors discuss social risks, examining the ways in which stigma, discrimination, and early life adversity can contribute to depressive disorders in SGMs. This provides a basis for researchers and clinicians to explore and include structural and societal change in addressing mental health disorders in SGMs. The authors also discuss the comorbidity of depressive disorders with several chronic health conditions with particular regard to the health inequities that some subpopulations of SGMs face. Adopting an intersectional approach is useful in studying depressive disorders among SGMs, and the authors suggest pairing this approach with the National Institute of Health’s Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework. Future directions are suggested to researchers and clinicians to reduce risks of depressive distress in SGM subpopulations.</p>

Policy, relationships, and well-being: Associations between mental health and main partner relationships among cisgender sexual minority men in the context of U.S. state-level policies.

“…Sexual minority men (SMM) experience rates of mental health disorders higher than those of heterosexual men (Chodzen et al, 2020; Weiss & Raymond, 2020). Epidemiological data consistently indicate that SMM are more likely to report lifetime mood (Bolton & Sareen, 2011; Chaudhry & Reisner, 2019; Kerridge et al, 2017) and anxiety disorders (Bolton & Sareen, 2011; Bostwick et al, 2010; Kerridge et al, 2017; Strutz et al, 2015) compared to their heterosexual counterparts.…”