Sexual Minority Mental Health

Abstract

Sexual minority clients are more likely to experience emotional disorders and other psychiatric conditions than the general population. This health disparity is not attributable to an individual's sexual minority identity, but rather, the social milieu that produces a unique set of stigma-related stressors. Therefore, mental health disparities affecting sexual minority communities are best understood through a minority stress framework. This chapter outlines mental health disparities affecting sexual minority communities, tailored evidence-based treatments, and clinical considerations for working with sexual minority clients. We hope this chapter can offer pragmatic guidance on how best to tailor intervention approaches given the unique needs and lived experiences of this population.

Personality disorders research and social decontextualization: What it means to be a minoritized human.

“…Scholarship has proliferated aimed at understanding how minority stress is associated with mental disorders (Chang et al, 2021; Rodriguez-Seijas, Eaton, et al, 2019) and psychopathology processes that underlie mental disorders (Cohen et al, 2016; Feinstein, 2020; Feinstein & Dyar, 2017). Furthermore, minority stress is used as a key framework and target for SGM-affirming psychotherapeutic conceptualization and intervention (Burton et al, 2019; Pachankis, 2014, 2015; Rogers et al, 2022), underscoring the importance of appreciating sociocultural context in understanding the mental health needs of—and alleviating the associated impairment among—SGM populations. Minority stress models of psychopathology embrace the mutually deterministic relationships between the individual and their environments in understanding the mental health needs of SGM individuals.…”

“…First, ensuring competence and knowledge about how environmental stressors compromise health is simply non-negotiable for assessment, diagnosis, and intervention for personality and nonpersonality pathology. Indeed, there exist numerous articles (Burton et al, 2019; Pachankis, 2014; Rogers et al, 2022) as well as books (Pachankis & Safren, 2019; Skinta, 2020) devoted to the topic of SGM-affirming interventions, many of which build off of a minority stress framework (Hatzenbuehler, 2009; Meyer, 1995, 2003; Rich et al, 2020; Tan et al, 2020). It behooves every mental health professional—and personality disorder researcher—to ensure that they remain up-to-date with the latest evidence regarding the psychosocial needs of SGM individuals.…”

Personality Disorders Research and Social Decontextualization: What it Means to be a Minoritized Human

“…Scholarship has proliferated aimed at understanding how minority stress is associated with mental disorders (e.g., Chang et al, 2021; and psychopathology processes that underlie mental disorders (e.g., Cohen et al, 2016;Feinstein, 2020a;Feinstein & Dyar, 2017). Further, minority stress is utilized as a key framework and target for SGM-affirming psychotherapeutic conceptualization and intervention (e.g., Burton et al, 2019;Pachankis, 2014Pachankis, , 2015Rogers et al, 2021), underscoring the importance of appreciating sociocultural context in understanding the mental health needs ofand alleviating the associated impairment among-SGM populations. Minority stress models of psychopathology embrace the mutually deterministic relationships between the individual and their environments in understanding the mental health needs of SGM individuals.…”

“…Indeed, there exist numerous articles (e.g., Burton et al, 2019;Pachankis, 2014;Rogers et al, 2021) as well as books (e.g., Pachankis & Safren, 2019;Skinta, 2020) devoted to the topic of SGM-affirming interventions, many of which build off of a minority stress framework (see Hatzenbuehler, 2009;Meyer, 1995Meyer, , 2003Rich et al, 2020;Tan et al, 2020). It behooves every mental health professional-and personality disorder researcher-to ensure that they remain up to date with the latest evidence regarding the psychosocial needs of SGM individuals.…”

Sociocultural context and the DSM–5 alternative model of personality disorder: Comment on Widiger and Hines (2022).

“…The importance of attending to minority stress context has even been extended to dialectical behavior therapy for SGM individuals with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (Pantalone et al, 2019). After summarizing myriad evidence-based approaches for psychosocial dysfunction among SM populations, Rogers et al (2021) conclude that interventions share—among other things—a fundamental focus and understanding of the ways in which sociocultural context impacts the development and persistence of psychosocial dysfunction and necessarily informs treatment. Stemming from the epistemic exclusion of sociocultural context within the assessment and diagnosis of personality pathology within the AMPD, and broadly across personality disorder theory in general, how will the field move forward to harnessing more contextualized intervention approaches for personality disorders?…”