Mental Disorders and LGBT

What sort of mental disorders are you referring to? Depression and things like that tend to go with the territory, if you know what I mean.

 

Well there is supposed to be a higher incidence of autism in transguys, but I'm not aware of it being so in the entire LGBT population. You may be right, but it may also be that things are shared more readily on forums, and I would imagine that people with mental/social disorders spent proportionately more time interacting online than neurotypical people.

After all, how many people of an offline social group confess all of their mental/social disorders?

 

Hexagon has a point. I think an online venue gives people the freedom to talk about all of their afflictions, especially things they might consider too personal to tell people in realtime.

 

people who have to willpower to come out also usually have the willpower needed to tell people that they have a mental disorder. what Lux said also holds true, people are a lot more open about their personal lives on the internet. People with Asperger's Syndrome and other autism spectrum disorders are also more likely to be LGBT and they end up coming to forums like EC where they can ask for help with awkward social situations.

 

Autistic peeps i know are straight.
I don't have mental disorders, I have physical issues though, like asthma, allergies, hearing loss, nearsightedness, TMJ...I doubt you will find a link to dust allergies and transgender though.

 

Lol.

Just because you know heterosexual autistic people doesn't mean there aren't queer ones too.

 

nope...impossible! its DNA linked, all autistic are straight as Cupids arrow!

I know a ton of gay men from Ohio, here and Deafies on FB...maybe there is a link of gay to Ohio?

 

I am not straight.

(yes, I know you're kidding)

 

^ I cured him!!

 

I never was straight. You never cured me of anything.

 

^I made him gayer!

 

I'm not gay.

 

^ I made him Asexual! I am a miracle worker!!!

 

From a purely scientific point of view (not a philosophical one), I personally view homosexuality/bisexuality as an aberration in normal development. Before people bite my head off, keep in mind I mean that purely scientifcally, I'm not saying that being homosexual is "wrong", and in fact I like who I am ^_^. However I've noticed a pattern of homosexual/bisexual people having parental attachment issues, sometimes extreme like one or both parents being abusive (i.e physically or verbally), to a/both parents being detached emotionally. I believe that bonding with the parent of the same sex is a part of sexual development (mirroring his/her sexuality and interactions with the opposite gender), and then after than with peers of the same gender. I've noticed that a lot of homosexual/bisexual people I've met had the parent of their gender who was either decent, but emotionally unavailable (hence no close bond) or just physically unavailable (frequently travelling/divorced). For example, my Dad's a good dad, but since my parents are divorced and I'm in my mothers custody, I don't see him much. Therefore the primary caregiver during those critical years of my development was only my mother. My recent crush-turned-best-friend who is also bisexual had a Dad who was very emotionally detached, and at times neglectful. He eventually began living with his mom, though they have issues, they're much closer.

A lot of people on the forums here seem to have parental issues, which seems like a pattern to me.

I'm not saying that in order to be gay, you have to have had bad parents, I think there is a biological aspect to it, and that failure to bond with the parent of the same gender is one of the triggers.

 

From my understanding, this is not the scientific community's take on homosexuality at all. Biologists don't view homosexual behavior as an aberration so much as a more or less value-neutral difference. Obviously it presents a problem for the continuation of their genes if both organisms are in a permanent, monogamous relationship with each other. However, sex in general serves more functions than just reproduction, and homosexuality is merely an extension of that. As for what causes someone to be queer, it is generally believed to be primarily genetic with some influence from fetal and early childhood environment. I do not know whether the relationship with parental issues has been studied.

The increase of the rate of mental illness and disability in the LBGTQ community versus the general population is well-documented. I suspect that there are two reasons for this. For one, being LBGTQ means you are more likely to face the nasty side of our culture, which in turn makes you more likely to develop a mental illness. Secondly (and this is more speculative), being mentally ill or disabled may make you more likely to realize that you're LBGTQ. From the very start you know it will be an uphill battle to reach our cultural ideal of a fulfilled life (which may or may not actually be all that fulfilling for anyone), so questioning whether that's what you really want is easier.

 

Well sex is primarily for the purpose of reproduction from an evolutionary point of view, so homosexuality would be a negative evolutionary trait (would prevent reproduction, and according to Darwinism, the failure of the organism to complete it's ultimate goal; to reproduce). One can argue that it allows for bonding between same-gender humans, which in turn increases chances of survival, etc, but the thing is, we have already evolved with mechanisms to allow that while still allowing for reproduction; people form close, yet non-sexual bonds with members of the same-gender.

However, that's really a pointless debate, at least in my opinion, since evolution isn't intelligent (it's a phenomena, not a process), and regardless, who occurs if one's sexuality is a genetic abberation? I'm glad to be bisexual, and I by no means think being gay is "bad".

 

Damn Chip beat me to it.

It's hardly surprising really, with all the things may LGBTQ people go through. It's outlining the fact it's nurture*, not nature.

* not necessarily just how you were brought up but the environment around you