Transgender Mental Health

Transgender Mental Health

Transgender people face incredible obstacles in many aspects of life, chief among them is accessing affordable, affirming, and competent healthcare. The National LGBTQ+ Task Force and Trans Lifeline joined forces to help identify the unique barriers that transgender people face in accessing mental health care by conducting the most comprehensive survey of mental health in the transgender community. The survey’s ultimate goal was to collect data that informs mental health practitioners so that they can develop policies that improve support systems for our vulnerable population.

LGBTQ+ people are almost 3 times more likely than others to experience a mental health condition such as major depression or generalized anxiety disorder than their straight counterparts. Many factors contribute to this perveance such as the fear of coming out, facing discrimination, being targeted for violence, and struggling to access healthcare. Results from the largest survey of the trans community, Injustice at Every Turn, indicated that transgender people are more impacted by all of these factors yet transgender people are more likely to live in poverty, to experience discrimination in healthcare settings, and to experience violence due to their identities than others in the gay, lesbian, and bisexual communities. Victoria Rodríguez-Roldán of the Task Force said this, “We know that 41% of trans people attempt suicide but we have no idea what happens after. Did people get the care they need? Did they experience discrimination when accessing health care? Did they make future attempts? We are missing a lot of information that can help us address the issue.”

About eight years ago a transgender man with Asperger’s was killed by the police in Mesa, Arizona. The police responded after Kayden Clarke reached out for help during a suicidal episode. According to a survey Trans Lifeline conducted, about a third of trans people experiencing a crisis will not seek out help out of fear that they will be mistreated by first responders or that they will be committed to a psychiatric facility where many trans people face conditions that are humiliating at best and dangerous at worst. Greta Martela, Executive Director of the Trans Lifeline, added, “Many of our callers perceive the Trans Lifeline as the only safe place they can turn to. That’s a huge problem because short-term crisis support doesn’t address deeper mental health issues, and we have many repeat callers who are consistently in crisis because they can’t access the ongoing mental health care they need.”

At the same time LGBTQ+ people confront stigma and prejudice based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, they also face societal bias against mental health conditions. Some people report having to hide their gender identity or sexual orientation from those in the mental health system for fear of being ridiculed or rejected. Some hide their mental health conditions from other in the LGBTQ+ community too.

We have to stand up for our brothers and sisters. We have to stand up and say you are ok, you are worthy, and you are loved. So, the next time you see or talk with someone who is transgender remind them that they are brave, beautiful and wonderfully made just the way they are.

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