Why is Depression/Anxiety/OCD so common in LGBTQ+ ?

I had a lot of social anxiety before I entered the LGBT community. I don't have OCD. The depression came with not knowing my gender for sure and all these dysphoric and confused feelings, along with loneliness.

 

I think always being the odd one out will make anyone a bit depressed. Feeling like you have to hide who you are and watch every word you say will cause a lot of anxiety.

I didn't understand myself at a younger age, but I knew enough to know I was different. Other people knew it, too. I internalized a lot of that stigma, became convinced there was something wrong with me. Any inkling of my orientation was barraged with homophobic insults or derision.

That will wear on anyone. It's not surprising LGBT people have more mental health issues.

 

I've had to deal with anxiety and depression for my whole life. I didn't link it to sexuality, but I also wasn't really in touch with that either.

I did always feel like I had something I was hiding, and that wore on my a lot. Since coming out, although there's been quite a lot of stress, I feel my anxiety and depression are very much lessened.

As far as "what drives" these sorts of issues for people, it can be a variety and a combination of factors. And if you have a high baseline level, then it's much easier to tip over into a more highly anxious state. For me, that made it harder to link to any cause as I was always reacting to the straw that broke the camels back and not the entire haystack that had already piled up before.

Growing up in a time and place where you need to constantly police your behavior to not reveal yourself is very stressful. Even with greater acceptance, these issues remain for a lot of lgbt people.

 

I recently overcame having anxiety and it had nothing to do with my sexual orientation. My anxiety stemmed from other issues that had developed over time. It doesn't matther if you are of the LGBT community or not, you can still be effected by it whatever the issue. Anxiety/stress is not a killer itself, but it can be a bridge to something that might be dangerous or even deadly. My anxiety didn't get to extent, but I found something that was really useful for me, that is what anxiety is about it's a evil monster that you feel is there but it's not there, if you know what I mean. I found out where I carried my anxiety was in my throat and jawline, I used a technique by placing my two thumbs under my chin and place my first and second finger underneath the ear, then lastly hum. It is suppose to free-up tension in that area of the whole voice, throat and jawline.

How I describe it is to me, it felt like someone had sellotaped or taped my jaw to my throat. I am not a specialist of any kind, but I eventually found something that worked for me through looking on youtube, type in 'fun with anxiety' if you are interested.

Having anxiety or stress shouldn't be ashamed of and there are plenty of people and methods to go for:

Hypnotherapy
counselling
etc..

And the doing simple things like saying yes to things and that could help to. It's just unfortunate that when a LGBT suicide is reported on the news, more often then not it is or could be started up by a situation and in turn making someone have anxiety, stress or even worse. As I learnt myself, we all should have anxiety to a point, because it helps us to keep us safe. But then, then there is keeping yourself safe and feeling like you are on a constant state of alert for no reason and you also feel like an alarm is going off in your head and you don't know why.

 

Do you know that there is a possible link between homosexuality and intelligence? Intelligent individuals are more likely to recognize and embrace evolutionary novel behaviour such as homosexuality (and I would argue any other spectrum of LGBT different from the paper I linked) while less intelligent individuals are more likely to stick to heterosexuality, following the traditional evolutionary behaviours.
My assumption is that we are like evolutionary test subjects. We try out novels things, and if it works it benefits the human race, while if it doesn't our behaviours won't carry to the next generation.

And then, there is also a possible link between intelligence and mental disorders. No one is more happy than an oblivious fool, right? It is just the reverse here.

So there you have it. We are statistically more intelligent. And statistically, intelligent people are more prone to depression and bipolar disorder and such.

Mind you these are some big leaps in judgement here and any researcher worth their salt would doubt my hypothesis, but one can't help but wonders about the relations.

 

I heard someone once say that because mental disorders are more common in LGBT people, that's proof that being LGBT is "harmful". If only they realized they are the problem.

 

Maybe it due to all the stress, pressure and sometimes homophobia we encounter when we are and when we have come out.

I suffer with Bipolar, Social Anxiety and OCD, the whole package, but it has been getting better the last two years; I know for me that anything to do with LGBTQ+ was the NOT the issue.

 

I grew up with very accepting parents, and I became depressed far before I could ever think of my orientation. I think that for some people it's just a coincidence, but for a great part it's because there's still homophobia, and we have to face being abnormal everyday. It's horrible, really.

 

Well, it could be because of being apart of the LGBTQ+ community. If they're from a LGBTQ-phobic family or town then it can be really stressful. My town is really homophobic and transphobic so it's really difficult for members of the community to live out here. Another factor could be genetics. Depression, Anxiety, and OCD runs in my blood. Another reason could be because they feel as if they're not represented enough in the community so they feel as if they're an out cast. That was a problem for me for awhile but then I got over it. You don't see man trans or queer people of color so you feel as if you're the odd one out. There's a lot of reasons but reasons differ from person to person.

 

I have always been very anxious, and had my first panic attack about a month after my 11th birthday. (long before I perceived differences between myself and my peers) A massive drop in my mood came after I experienced some (albeit minor) emotional abuse/manipulation from my teachers at secondary school, which was long after I had come to be comfortable with my sexuality. Compulsive behaviours, including 'regular' OCD as well as skin picking, increased and starting interfering with my life shortly after said incidences with my teachers.
Honestly, I think I've just been unlucky. Identity and mental health didn't seem to cross paths in my case.

 

Other groups of oppressed and marginalized people have higher levels of baseline stress and have higher rates of anxiety and depression. I don't see why that wouldn't be part of it for LGBTQ people as well

 

Something my therapist showed me half a year ago to the topic depression

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiCrniLQGYc

i quite like it