Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol
September 2025
Purpose: Hatzenbuehler's psychological mediation framework proposes that difficulties in emotion regulation (ER), which are driven in part by excess exposure to stigma-related experiences, contribute to sexual orientation-related mental health disparities. However, existing research on the framework has largely focused on a small number of ER variables in non-probability samples.
Methods: To address these limitations, we examined whether a large complement of ER components mediates the prospective association between sexual minority status and depressive symptoms, using longitudinal data from a population-based sample of 1,208 Swedish young adults (aged 18-35).
Trials
September 2025
Psychol Sex Orientat Gend Divers
June 2025
A growing body of research among sexual minority (e.g., gay, lesbian, bisexual) populations has highlighted unique mental health treatment needs and barriers to care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCogn Behav Pract
May 2025
Sexual minority men seek out mental health treatment at approximately twice the rate of the general population, with minority stress being the most likely explanation for this population's heightened mental and behavioral health concerns and associated treatment seeking. However, little research identifies sexual minority men's mental health treatment goals, thereby potentially hindering tailored treatment development and clinicians' preparation. The present study qualitatively identifies treatment goals among 94 ethnically diverse, majority cisgender sexual minority men who participated in a trial of LGBTQ-affirmative CBT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Sexual and gender minorities (SGM) experience among the largest mental health disparities of any population. One driver has been the lack of evidence-based practices (EBPs) addressing the distinct mechanisms underlying SGM's risk. LGBTQ-affirmative cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is among the only EBPs specifically for SGM mental health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGay community stress has been linked to social anxiety among sexual minority men; however, the moderating role of identity-related processes (e.g., sexual identity centrality) has yet to be examined in this association.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTransgender and gender expansive (TGE) individuals face minority stress and associated health risks, especially in high-stigma contexts. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ)-affirmative cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the only evidence-based interventions developed to address minority stress to improve psychosocial health. Yet, trials of this treatment have mostly enrolled cisgender sexual minorities, TGE youth, and those living in North American contexts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResearch on the disparity in common mental health problems borne by sexual minority individuals has entered a stage of increasing theoretical complexity. Indeed, such a substantial disparity is likely not determined by a singular cause and therefore warrants diverse etiological perspectives tested with increasingly rigorous methodologies. The research landscape is made even more complex by the constant and rapid shift in the ways in which sexual minority people understand and characterize their own identities and experiences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough intraminority gay community stress has been theorized to affect sexual minority men's body dissatisfaction, this association has not been evaluated quantitatively. In two samples of sexual minority men-one sample recruited from a population-based study of U.S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: LGBTQ-affirmative cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based treatment for reducing transdiagnostic mental and behavioral health concerns among LGBTQ individuals. Preserving the effects of this intervention as it is translated into practice can maximize public health benefits. This study systematically identifies and evaluates implementation strategies for LGBTQ-affirmative CBT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Transgender youths are more likely than cisgender youths to need mental health care because of their high exposure to discrimination and victimization, including within health care systems. Accordingly, transgender youths have low care satisfaction and high rates of treatment dropout, further exacerbating existing mental health inequities. To reduce these inequities, mental health providers need knowledge and skills to enhance transgender youths' treatment engagement and benefits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPsychotherapy (Chic)
September 2024
Sexual minority clients report experiencing frequent microaggressions during therapy, however, therapists may not recognize those microaggressions or may be reluctant to self-report them. The main aim of the present study was thus to develop an observational measure of in-session therapist-committed microaggressions related to the sexual orientation of sexual minority individuals (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
May 2025
Objective: The aim of the current study was to identify the age at which sexual orientation disparity in mental health diagnoses can be first identified, as well as gender and sexual identity subgroup differences in such treatment, in a population-based sample.
Method: Young people aged 16 to 25 (N = 10,406) participating in the probability-based Swedish National Public Health Survey in 2018 were included. This sample was linked to physician-assessed mental health care treatment history data starting when all participants were 8 years old using national health care registries.
Trials
July 2024
Background: Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) represent a high-risk group for HIV transmission in Romania, yet they possess few resources for prevention. Despite having no formal access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) through the health system, GBMSM in Romania demonstrate a high need for and interest in this medication. In anticipation of a national rollout of PrEP, this study tests the efficacy of a novel strategy, Prepare Romania, that combines two evidence-based PrEP promotion interventions for GBMSM living in Romania.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBehav Ther
July 2024
Sexual orientation and gender identity/expression change efforts (SOGIECEs) are discredited practices that are associated with serious negative effects and incompatible with modern standards for clinical practice. Despite evidence linking SOGIECEs with serious iatrogenic effects, and despite support for LGBTQ+-affirmative care alternatives, SOGIECE practices persist. In the 1970s and 1980s, Behavior Therapy published articles testing and/or endorsing SOGIECEs, thereby contributing to their overall development, acceptance, and use.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJMIR Res Protoc
May 2024
Background: The World Health Organization reported that 80% of new HIV diagnoses in Europe in 2014 occurred in Central and Eastern Europe. Romania has a particularly high HIV incidence, AIDS prevalence, and number of related deaths. HIV incidence in Romania is largely attributed to sexual contact among gay and bisexual men.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Behav Addict
June 2024
Background And Aims: Since the inclusion of Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD) in the International Classification of Diseases (11th ed.), there has been little effort placed into developing clinical recommendations for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) clients with this condition. Thus, we develop preliminary clinical recommendations for mental health professionals working with LGBQ clients who may be struggling with CSBD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrain Behav Immun
July 2024
Sexual minority individuals have a markedly elevated risk of depression compared to heterosexuals. We examined early threats to social safety and chronically elevated inflammation as mechanisms contributing to this disparity in depression symptoms, and compared the relative strength of the co-occurrence between chronic inflammation and depression symptoms for sexual minorities versus heterosexuals. To do so, we analyzed data from a prospective cohort of sexual minority and heterosexual young adults (n = 595), recruited from a nationally representative sample, that included assessments of early threats to social safety in the form of adverse childhood interpersonal events, three biomarkers of inflammation (i.
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