“Australia’s peak anti-depression initiative, beyondblue, has launched resource material for GLBTI people.
CEO Leonie Young acknowledged that beyondblue previously had no specific material for GLBTI people.
“What we have been doing over the last couple of years is looking at vulnerable groups,” Young said.
She added that a lot of people had been asking for GLBTI resources….
MCV: Beyond Blue Rallies GLBTI Resources
An executive summary of the findings titled ‘Feeling Queer and Blue’ is available along with two fact sheets, one for GLBTI youth, the other for adults.
Beyondblue is disseminating these resources to a number of government health bodies and various peak support agencies, including those reflective of the GLBTI community.
In a move that has been welcomed by GLBTI activists, beyondblue has also invited GLBTI representatives to a round table discussion in December on mental health and well-being.…
Professor Gary Dowsett from the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, one of the authors of the ‘Feeling Queer and Blue’ report, echoed Goldner’s concerns about the inclusion of trans issues.
“Our report was on GLB findings and there was a real reason for that because it is quite complicated to find transgender and intersex issues in that same literature and also there isn’t a lot of literature on it as well,” Dowsett said. “So there is more work to be done in making sure that transgender and intersex issues in relation to mental health and anxiety don’t get lost.”
Dowsett also said there was no ‘one size fits all’ solution.
“It will have to be a very nuanced and subtle process that takes into account the common causes, but also the different ways these mental health issues act themselves out in different parts of our community.”
Beyondblue, Fact sheet 40: Depression and anxiety in gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex (GLBTI) people
Intersex people
There are few studies of mental health in intersex people. Sources of psychological stress include confusion about sexual identity and gender roles, and treatment issues such as surgery at a young age, surgery without informed consent, and lack of disclosure from parents and health carers. The survey of GLBTI people found that around 60 per cent of intersex people reported having depression, and about 70 per cent of intersex males and 85 per cent of intersex females had seen a counsellor or psychiatrist during the previous five years.
Beyondblue, FEELING QUEER AND BLUE: A review of the literature on depression and related issues among gay, lesbian, bisexual and other homosexually active people - Executive Summary
Due to our exclusion of intersex and transgender people in the analysis of this review, we only refer to populations as GLBTI or GLBT when samples aggregate transgender and/or intersex people and non-heterosexual people.
