June is the month in which the pride is celebrated LGBTQIA+ community. Pride Month is a time to celebrate inclusion, but there are still plenty prejudices on those who belong to sexual minority groups, which strongly affect their physical and psychological well-being. We talked about it with the doctor Sara Beomonte Zobelpsychodynamically oriented psychotherapist of the online psychology service You bravo and expert on issues related to the LGBT world.
In this article
Prejudice and psychological violence on the LGBTQIA+ community
«The problem with psychological violence, on the one hand, is that it is less visible than other forms of violence, such as physical violence. On the other hand, it is a violence that can take many forms. Any minority is subject, in addition to explicit attackseven to a whole series of microaggressioni, where sometimes there is no explicit will or awareness to discriminate. Assuming, for example, that a person who appears as a woman recognizes herself in terms of gender identity as such. We are in one society that has not yet reached an adequate level of awareness on these topics. For this reason it is important to underline that, for those who come from aexperience of systemic discrimination, these are also traumashowever qualified as violence», explains Dr. Sara Beomonte Zobel.
Members of the LGBTQIA+ community are more at risk of suffering from mental health problems
«If we look at the studies dealing with mental health, such as the surveys conducted in the United States on thousands of people belonging to the general population, there is actually a higher prevalence of mental disorders or suffering. However, it is not that the condition of belonging to the LGBTQIA+ community is in itself a predisposing factor to a lower psychological well-being. It must be related to the fact that there is an intermediate filter, the company and the “minority stress”».
What is “minority stress”?
“This concept comes from social psychology. is theexcess of stress to which individuals belonging to marginalized and stigmatized categories, such as LGBTQIA+, are more exposed. When the human being is in a state of stress it is because he is reacting to adapt to the environment. When we are stressed, neurotransmitters and hormones are activated that have effects on the functioning of the brain. Being exposed to one stressful condition for a extended time behaves a greater vulnerability to the development of diseases, both from a physical and psychological point of view. The symptoms that can derive from prolonged exposure to a condition of systemic stress, such as that suffered by minorities, are then extremely linked to the personality, the social context of origin or the one in which the person moves. To emotional, intellectual and environmental resources.
«Il alarm bell it’s just the fact of not feeling good about being yourself or yourself. In the feeling inadequate or inadequate without being able to give an explanation. In fact, it’s the context that generates or activates this type of experience. Like being very conditioned in the way of living relationships or in having to present oneself in a different way from what one is», specifies the psychotherapist.
The effectiveness of affirmative therapy
“The affirmative therapy it is not a therapeutic orientation, but it is a style, a way of being and of being in therapy on the part of the therapist. Yes contrasts with conversion therapies which unfortunately still exist, based on the denial of the identity of the individual. The affirmation therapies they are socially and culturally informed approaches. They recognize identity in all its possible forms, not seeing it as an indication of something pathological».
“In theory any good psychotherapy should be affirmative therapy. And the condition not so that a person can trust, perceive an environment as safe, open up and give the professional or professional the opportunity to help them. Therapy does not allow us to change the outside world that goes in a demeaning or stigmatizing direction. But lets have a space in which to feel recognized, free in their own choices and of be able to feel good even in contexts that are not necessarily welcoming”.
Discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ community limits access to care
«There are many studies on the fact that there tends to be a less access to care of the members of the LGBTQIA+ communitydetermined by the fear of being discriminated against even by health personnel. Or, simply, from having to present the other person with more effort than someone who conforms to social expectations with respect to the biological sex. People, perhaps on the basis of a previous experience or a global context of discrimination and rejection, perceive afurther barrier. This is a very big problem that highlights a need for training and informationespecially on those who work in contact with the population», continues Dr. Beomonte Zobel.
The importance of educating about diversity and attention to language
«It starts from primary education ad educate for diversity, up to more targeted and specific training in the professional field. Bearing in mind the fact that we live in a cultural system in which the correspondence between biological sex and gender or the fact of being heterosexual is taken for granted”.
“Another important thing is to try to adopt a neutral language when speaking, whether in a formal, informal or educational context. When we are in a group and all of us present ourselves with this type of approach, indicating the pronouns of preference, the person who does not recognize himself in his biological sex will feel less stigmatized in not being the only one to have to specify it. As well as in speeches of any kind we must never assume that there may be certain preferences or inclinations. It involves a bit of effort, but they are all things that then, the moment we start doing them, become automatic. If I start to speak in a certain way, the interlocutor in front of me will tend to use the same language».
Create an inclusive environment
“In a truly inclusive society it would not be necessary for someone to make more effort than someone else to get recognized for something that should only be a right. If a whole series of little things already enters the system, the rest follows as a consequence, why language creates», concludes the expert.