Abstract

Author(s):

Katherine Johnson

The health of LGBT+ people is widely recognised as carrying numerous consequences across the lifespan, including but not limited to, elevated rates of psychological distress and life-time risk for suicide, weight-related health concerns (too fat, too thin) and diseases associated with increased rates of smoking, alcohol and recreational drug use. Despite the individualising tone of much health prevention literature, within the field of LGBT health the impact of social discrimination is offered as a key explanatory factor where health outcomes are related to ability to access appropriate and acceptable health services, and health-related behaviours can be seen as coping strategies for stigma, rejection, and safety. Drawing on examples* from community-based research with LGBT people in the UK this paper examines the entwined relationship between physical and mental health for LGBT people and asks what might an early intervention to improve the health and wellbeing of LGBT people look like in a landscape of social inequality?
* Content warning: the material presented contains some accounts of psychological distress including suicidal thoughts and experiences.