When I was 17 years old, I really did not want to be gay. I did not want to have a crush on my basketball teammate like I did. I wore heels and skirts out to parties, hoping they would disguise my tomboyish mannerisms. I truly believed I would be alone forever.
Fast-forward to a few days ago when I celebrated my 37th birthday with a group of friends who are diverse in race, profession, and sexual orientation, and who were invited by my fiancé, the most brilliant and beautiful woman I know. Moments like this one remind me that it does, and it did, get better.
For context, I am a Black, queer, masculine-presenting cis female who works as a psychiatrist. I am living my “dream,” technically. Yet, I continue to struggle with severe anxiety and depression despite consistent treatment with medication and therapy for over a decade. In fact, one of the reasons I decided to become a psychiatrist in the first place was to better understand my anxiety, which first manifested in high school in the form of panic attacks.
My reflections come on the heels of the results from The Trevor Project’s third annual National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health. For those of you who may not know much about The Trevor Project, it’s a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth through 24/7 crisis services platforms.
As a psychiatrist, the results of this year’s report are unfortunately not surprising, but still deeply disturbing. Out of the nearly 35,000 LGBTQ youth who were surveyed, 42 percent of respondents between the ages of 13 and 24 had seriously considered attempting suicide within the past 12 months, with more than half identifying as trans or nonbinary youth.
Read more at Healthline.com.
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