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Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology Heersink School of Medicine

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology

Facts and Figures

Extensive studies have shown that people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender are at higher risk of developing mental disorders and problems with substance abuse, suicide, suicidal ideation, and deliberate self-harm than heterosexual and/or cisgender people. Consequentially, gay and transgender people often feel ashamed and a lack of understanding from health care providers escalates this issue. Health disparities are the unfortunate result in this underserved population.  Furthermore, many LGBTQ people often feel distrustful when it comes to mental health clinics (and psychiatrist/counselors by extension) because they still associate mental health with conversion/reparative therapy they are wary about making appointments or reaching out for help.  Secondly, when they do finally make that appointment--they are too often put in the position of educating their provider on how to communicate with them---this is especially true for transgender patients.

Suicide-The LGBTQ community is at higher risk for suicide 
  • For LGBTQ people aged 10-24, suicide is one of the leading causes of death.
  • LGBTQ youth are 4 times more likely and questioning youth are 3 times more likely to attempt suicide, experience suicidal thoughts or engage in self harm than straight people.
  • Between 38-65% of transgender individuals experience suicidal ideation.
  • Someone who faced rejection after coming out to their families were 8 times more likely to have attempted suicide than someone who was accepted by there family.
LGBTQ Youth- LGBTQ youth are 6 times more likely to experience symptoms of depression
  • One in four homeless youth are LGBTQ identified compared to one in 10 youth at large.
  • Non-LGBTQ youth are nearly twice as likely as LGBTQ youth to say they are happy. 67% non-LGBTQ youth report being happy while only 37% of LGBTQ youth report being happy. 
  • LGBTQ youth are more likely than non-LGBTQ youth to report that they do not have an adult they can talk to about personal problems. 
  • LGBTQ youth are more than twice as likely as non-LGBTQ youth to experiment with alcohol and drugs.
  • Nearly half of LGBTQ youth feel they do not "fit in" their community.
  • LGBTQ youth are more than two times as likely as non-LGBTQ youth to say they have been verbally harassed and called names at school.
  • LGBTQ youth are twice as likely as their peers to say they have been physically assulted, kicked or shoved at school.
Substance Abuse- The LGBTQ community reports higher rates of drug, alcohol and tabacco use.
  • 25 % of LGBT people abuse alcohol, compared to 5-10% of the general population.
  • An estimated 20-30% of the LGBTQ people abuse substances, compared to 9% of the general population.


*Please check back for more information regarding Facts and Figures of the LGBTQ community*