Mental Disorders in the LGBT Community, Essay Example

In this article, Meyer explores the research that has been conducted on the ubiquity of mental disorders within the gay and lesbian communities. He utilizes meta-analysis in order to demonstrate that members of the gay and lesbian communities suffer from a higher prevalence of mental disorders than their heterosexual counterparts do. As such, Meyer proffers a conceptual framework for the reader to fully comprehend this exorbitance of mental disorders in terms of so-called “minority stress,” which expounds on the prejudice, stigma, and derogatory biases that foment a stressful and hostile social environment as the impetus for a plethora of mental health issues. The paradigm describes various stress processes and take into account the prospect of rejection, the materialization of discriminatory events, their feeling off needing to conceal and/or hide their true identity, coping processes to help them heal, and the internalization of homophobia that they experience on a quotidian basis. Ultimately, this conceptual framework provides a solid foundation upon which future research can be conducted with regards to this pressing issue in order to ascertain whether or not public policy can influence efforts to combat mental health issues within the gay and lesbian communities.

Discussion question: Why are mental disorders so disproportionately evident in the gay and lesbian community in comparison to the heterosexual population?

Mental disorders within the gay and lesbian communities is a complicated issue due to the fact that homosexuality was classified for decades as a manifestation of mental illness itself beginning in the 1960s, which ended in 1973 when homosexuality was removed from the DSM manual of mental disorders. Nonetheless, the legacy of such a classification has tainted the ongoing dialogue about the mental health of members of the gay and lesbian communities. Nonetheless, examining the prevalence of mental health disorders in the homosexual population is important due to the fact that there remains a stigma in the United States and the western world attached to the homosexual lifestyle. It is clear that this stigma and the perception of homosexuality as a pejorative term has resulted in the escalation of mental disorders due to the fact that homosexuals internalize the prejudice they face on a daily basis.