Sexual Minority Mental Health

Sexual minority clients are more likely to experience emotional disorders and other psychiatric conditions than the general population. This health disparity is not attributable to an individual's sexual minority identity, but rather, the social milieu that produces a unique set of stigma-related stressors. Therefore, mental health disparities affecting sexual minority communities are best understood through a minority stress framework. This chapter outlines mental health disparities affecting sexual minority communities, tailored evidence-based treatments, and clinical considerations for working with sexual minority clients. We hope this chapter can offer pragmatic guidance on how best to tailor intervention approaches given the unique needs and lived experiences of this population.

Transdiagnostic Approaches to Sexual and Gender Minority Mental Health

Sexual and gender minority individuals experience minority stress, which is hypothesized to underlie the mental health disparities affecting these populations. Drawing on advances in mental disorder classification, we argue that transdiagnostic approaches hold great promise for understanding and reducing these disparities. In contrast to traditional diagnostic approaches, which have limited construct validity and produced a piecemeal literature, transdiagnostic approaches: (1) are evidence based, (2) account for diffuse patterns of disparities and comorbidity, (3) pinpoint psychological mechanisms linking minority stress to poor mental health, (4) reduce scientific stigma, and (5) serve as efficacious and efficient targets for transdiagnostic minority stress interventions.