Time and Context for Healing Suicidal LGBT Youth

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in America. For over half of the people who died by suicide, they were not known to have a mental disorder. The problems associated with the deaths are complicated, including relationships, substance use, physical health, job, money, legal, or housing stress. Suicides are often committed via poisoning, suffocation, and firearm. Unfortunately, suicide rates are climbing in many states since the start of the century. In 2016 alone, nearly 45,000 people committed suicide. We need to work together as a society on a institutional and familial level to lower the probabilities of suicide. Government, public health, healthcare, employers, education, media, and community organizations are implicated in this process. We need to understand and support those who are suicidal by teaching self-care skills. Safe environments and social activities are necessary for mental health. For those mourning the loss of a loved one, comfort, support, and therapy are effective prevention strategies. Signs of suicide are feeling like a burden, being isolated, increased anxiety, feeling trapped or in unbearable pain, increased substance use, looking for a way to access lethal means, increased anger or rage, extreme mood swings, expressing hopelessness, sleeping too little or too much, talking or posting about wanting to die, and making plans for suicide. If you notice any of these signs, the steps to follow are ask, keep them safe, be there, help them connect, and follow up. (CDC, 2018)

Although suicide rates vary from state to state, overall suicide rates are increasing amid all sexes, racial/ethnic groups, and classes; with those between the ages of 45-64 having the largest increase in suicide. Firearms are the most likely cause of death and males are more likely to commit suicide. Among those who had a diagnosed mental health condition, depression was the most commonly associated with suicide. For those who did not have mental health conditions, life stressors, especially relationship issues, were strongly associated with suicide rates. Suicide costs the United States approximately $70 billions dollars in medical and work loss costs. We need to do more than just recommend mental health organizations and address the larger issues in society that allow the conditions for suicide to occur. In Indiana, there has been a 31-37% increase in suicides, a larger increase than many of the other states. (CDC, 2018)

40% of young LGBTQ people have considered suicide in the past year. This rises to more than half for trans and non-binary individuals. Clinical psychologist Amy Green says “the numbers are high and staying high, in terms of mental health.” A lot of the high suicide rates among LGBTQ people is due to above mentioned conditions such as housing instabilities, food insecurity, and accessing healthcare. 68% of LGBTQ youth suffered from generalized anxiety disorder. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified these effects. 86% of LGBTQ youth report that politics negatively affected their mental well-being. 46% of LGBTQ youth desired therapy from a mental health professional but were prevented by expenses and parental permission. 60% said they were not accepted and understood by family members and religious leaders. These authority figures attempted to unnaturally alter their sexuality or gender which negatively affected their mental health. Support from families and friends can save lives. (Scott & Leeds, 2021)

Suicide prevention for LGBTQ+ youth is intricately related to the time period. Mental health problems for these youth need to be destigmatized and understood contextually, building a positive identity for LGBTQ+ people. According to Clare Mullaney, there are three axioms regarding suicide prevention for LGBTQ+ youth. Axiom 1 is that time is not linear. LGBTQ+ people are not biologically, scientifically, or evolutionally more apt to commit suicide, but pressured by a society that does not accept and understand them. For centuries, LGBTQ+ people have been alienated and subjected to discrimination. Social conformity stifles the vivacity of LGBTQ+ lives. Mullaney encourages queers to examine their pasts and childhoods to comprehend the survival of LGBTQ+ people. By studying history and their own childhoods they will be better prepared to help others who are struggling. Axiom 2 is that suicide is not an event. With critique of neoliberalism and normative thinking, queer studies scholar Jaspir Puar does not perceive LGBTQ+ suicide as the result of a straight timeline but as a symptom of a sick society. She calls suicide “anticipatory disability”. Eventually we will all suffer from disability. Those who suffer now are premonition of sufferings that could occur in the future. Puar asks us to reshape our understanding of what it means to live life. Axiom 3 is that it does not get better. Celebrities such as Anne Hathaway promote campaigns like journalist Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller’s “It Gets Better” campaign. Campaigns like these assume that LGBTQ+ youth will heal in time. After enduring maltreatment for years, queer people are encouraged to move on and live their best life. Campaigns like these ignore complicated healing processes for queer folks. (Mullaney, 2016)

Instead of focusing on LGBTQ+ as at risk for suicide and mental health conditions, we need to be aware of the larger context in which queer people are living their lives. LGBTQ+ people do not always ascribe their mental health conditions to their sexuality and gender identity, but usually to other events and people in their lives. Identity as queer is related but not responsible for LGBTQ+ suicides. Campaigns that focus on LGBTQ+ people as outcasted minority groups do not facilitate communication and integration with society. The “It Gets Better” project is not sufficient at reaching its goal for the promotion of mental health among LGBTQ+ people. Queer people need to not be hegemonically positioned as vulnerable and victimized, but strengthened and empowered. “’After-queer’ scholarship seeks to interrogate, and transgress the stereotypical ‘figure of the abject gay youth’ which ‘haunts’ queer research, focusing instead on the diversity of LGBT youths’ living experiences, their capacity for joy, pleasure, agency and creativity, and the possibilities that popular culture offers for imagining gender, sex, and sexuality differently.” (Talburt & Rasmussen in Bryan & Mayock, 2010) Audrey Bryan and Paula Mayock record the accounts of LGBTQ+ experiences with mental health. Many describe their experience with self-injurious behavior as due to multi-causal explanations. One lesbian participant said “I consider my past mental health issues as not connected entirely to my sexual orientation – I consider them to be more connected with family of origin issues, although I’m not sure it’s possible to separate them out as neatly as that – nevertheless I would like it to be known that there were other factors in behaviors I used to self-harm in the past.” (Female, lesbian, age 36) These queer people are young, just beginning to completely understand their psycho-biography, gender, race, ethnicity in the social context. Their mental health cannot be attributed merely to their sexual and gender identities. We need to represent LGBTQ+ people as causal agents capable of creating their own lives to allow queer youth to view themselves positively. We need to focus on true incorporation into society. Queers should not be forced to develop resilience against prejudice. (Bryan & Mayock, 2017)

Because queer people are seen as outsiders by much of society, most suicides of LGBTQ+ people would be classified as egoistic suicides. According to Durkheim’s types of suicides, egoistic suicide results from lack of integration with society. “An individual’s mental energies are concentrated on the self to such an extent that social sanctions against suicide are ineffective. People who are disenfranchised or live at the fringes of society may have no reason to hold to life-affirming values, because they do not experience themselves as meaningfully related to the community.” (DeSpelder & Strickland, 2020, 441) Social integration is extremely important for suicide prevention. Durkheim focuses more on societal rather than biological causes of suicide. For example, married and religious people have lower suicide rates because of stronger social ties and social cohesion. Durkheim promoted optimum cohesion, but not excessive cohesion which could result in altruistic suicide. Altruistic suicide is when a person commits suicide out of sacrifice for society. Suicidal people commit suicide as escape and a cry for help. (DeSpelder & Strickland, 2020)

Queer people are human beings deserving of all the rights and respect afforded to a person. In order to combat mental health issues in LGBTQ+ groups, we need to address the lack of social integration experienced by these groups. The problem is not that they are queer, but that society views them as different, as deviants or vulnerable victims. We need to recognize that mental health concerns for LGBTQ+ people are not necessarily caused by their sexualities but are related to larger issues in society.

Personally, I identify as queer myself. I am demisexual, panromantic, and genderfluid. For years I struggled with anxiety and depression. Although I do not attribute my mental health problems to my orientation and sexual identity, they are definitely related. I experienced rejection and misunderstanding from family members, friends, and acquaintances. I questioned my political and religious beliefs extensively in order to find self-concordance. Without internet resources, I would never have been able to even discover why I felt different than some of my peers regarding relationships. I am very appreciative of the work the LGBTQ+ movement has accomplished. I hope that progress will continue to be made for the proper inclusion of LGBTQ+ people into society. They should not be made to feel alienated and alone. They are important members of society who have unique talents and skills to contribute.

References:

Bryan, Audrey; Mayock, Paula. (2017). Supporting LGBT Lives? Complicating the suicide consensus in LGBT mental health research. Sexualities. 20(1-2), 65-85.

DeSpelder, Lynne Ann and Strickland, Albert Lee. (2020) The Last Dance: Encountering Death and Dying. New York: McGraw Hill.

Mullaney, Clare. (2016). Reshaping Time: Recommendations for Suicide Prevention in LBGT Populations. Journal of Homosexuality, 63(3), 461-465.

Scott, Brianna; Leeds, Sam. (2020). Thoughts Of Suicide, Other Mental Health Struggles Still High For LGBTQ Youth. NPR.

Stone, Deborah M.; Simon, Thomas R.; Fowler, Katherine A.; Kegler, Scott R.; Yuan, Kemming; Holland, Kristin M.; Ivey-Stephenson, Asha Z.; Crosby, Alex E. Vital Signs: Trends in State Suicide Rates – United States, 1999-2016 and Circumstances Contributing to Suicide – 27 States, 2015. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6722a1.htm?s_cid=mm6722a1#T1_down

Suicide rising across the US. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/suicide/index.html