12 Sep Understanding Stressors in the LGBTIQ+ Community
How Do Social Stressors Impact Wellbeing?
The LGBTIQ+ community still faces significant challenges and stressors that can impact wellbeing. This occurs within a context of social stigma and discrimination, which can profoundly affect individual mental health.
What is Minority Stress?
Defining minority stress involves explaining how stigma, prejudice, and discrimination create a hostile and stressful social environment, leading to mental health problems.
Specifically, minority stress refers to the increased levels of stress experienced by stigmatised individuals due to discrimination related to their identity. This can include higher rates of bullying, harassment, and prejudice across various life areas such as education, relationships, employment, and healthcare. The constant vigilance for threats can be emotionally exhausting, resulting in feelings of isolation, psychological distress, anxiety, depression, and even suicidal thoughts.
How Do Social Norms & Heteronormative Expectations Affect LGBT Mental Health?
Social norms and heteronormative expectations can lead some LGBTIQ+ individuals to internalise negative self-talk, attitudes, or beliefs regarding their sexual orientation and gender identity. These internalised attitudes can make it challenging for LGBTIQ+ individuals to share their identity due to uncertainty about whether others, including friends and family, will respond with acceptance and support.
What Other Factors Can Impact the Wellbeing of the LGBTIQ+ Community?
Our psychologists utilise evidence-based practice and are up to date on research developments; acknowledging a number of factors that continue to significantly impact the well-being of the LGBT community and therefore benefit from tailored LGBT therapy support. Research has outlined a number of factors to include:
- Discrimination: Facing personal biases and prejudiced behaviours directed at you.
- Structural Inequalities: Dealing with systemic inequalities embedded in institutions and laws.
- Intersecting Forms of Discrimination: Managing overlapping forms of discrimination, including racism, that compound the effects of minority stress.
- Minority Stress: Experiencing chronic stress due to ongoing stigma, prejudice, and discrimination as discussed earlier.
- Intergenerational Trauma: Feeling the effects of trauma passed down through generations.
- Involuntary Medical Interventions: Undergoing medical treatments imposed without your consent.
- Gender Affirmation: Struggling with the lack of recognition and respect for your gender identity.
- Pathologisation: Confronting the treatment of your identity as abnormal or pathological.
- Social Isolation: Feeling excluded from social networks and communities.
- Enduring Violence: Experiencing sexual, domestic, or family violence targeting your sexual orientation or gender identity.
- Managing Mental Health: Dealing with a higher prevalence of mental health issues.
- Accessing Suitable Services: Finding it difficult to access appropriate and affordable support and healthcare LGBT services.
- Socioeconomic Challenges: Coping with homelessness, poverty, unemployment, and disrupted education.
Our warm and compassionate psychologists recognise these challenges and are here to support you. Our goal is to provide a more inclusive LGBT support, understanding, and affirming environment to help you navigate these difficulties and improve your overall well-being.
How Does Positive Wellbeing Psychology Support the LGBTIQA+ Community?
- Affirmation and Validation: At Positive Wellbeing Psychology, our psychologists provide a safe and supportive environment where you can feel deeply listened to, understood, and free to express your true self. This therapeutic relationship itself can challenge negative beliefs and begin the journey towards self-acceptance.
- Building Your Toolkit: Our team of warm and compassionate psychologists acknowledge the challenges you may face in the outside world. We work collaboratively with you to implement communication strategies, set boundaries, develop your sense of self and identity, and build self-care practices to support your well-being.
- Addressing Mental Health Challenges: LGBTIQ+ individuals may experience a range of mental health conditions linked to minority stress, such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, or substance abuse disorders. We consider you and your life holistically, working within evidence-based frameworks to provide support.
- Connecting With Supportive Networks: Our psychologists can assist in connecting you to supportive networks, community resources, and healthcare providers who are affirming and knowledgeable about LGBTIQ+ concerns.
Why Seek Assistance from a Psychologist?
Social pressures, heteronormative expectations, and minority stress can impact mental health, relationships, and a sense of safety in the world. Seeking assistance from a psychologist provides an opportunity to discuss your feelings, challenges, and experiences, and gain supportive tools in an environment that celebrates diversity and inclusion.
The LGBTIQ+ community includes individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, and other diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. If you need assistance, please get in touch with us!
How Positive Wellbeing Psychology Can Help?
At Positive Wellbeing Psychology, our Melbourne psychologists recognise the complexities of the challenges faced by the LGBTIQ+ community. We offer therapeutic approaches tailored to help individuals overcome these difficulties, nurturing healthier and more intimate relationships. We’re here to guide you on this transformative journey.