Bisexual people have a higher rate of this serious health issue

November 21, 2017 7:23 PM

Bisexual people are 21 percent more likely that gay or lesbian people to struggle with depression and 42 percent more likely than heterosexual people.

Depression and anxiety are the leading causes of mental illness in the U.S., with millions of people suffering from them each year.

Research has found that bisexual people have a higher risk of each condition than people of other sexual orientations, but it hasn’t pinpointed why that’s the case. Now, a new study has some answers.

The meta-analysis, which was published in The Journal of Sex Research, reviewed 1,074 scientific articles and confirmed that bisexual people are the most likely to struggle with anxiety and depression. Heterosexual people are the least likely, followed by people who identify as gay or lesbian.

According to the findings, bisexual people are 21 percent more likely that gay or lesbian people to struggle with depression and 42 percent more likely than heterosexual people. The numbers were a little less shocking for anxiety: About 52 percent of bisexual people suffered from anxiety, compared to 46 percent of gay and lesbian people, and 33 percent of heterosexuals.

The researchers found that there were a few reasons for this: Bisexual people are more likely to face discrimination based on their sexual orientation, bisexuality is often ignored or minimized in history and pop culture, and there is a lack of support for people who are bisexual.

The researchers point out that, despite the findings and others like it, there is a distinct lack of scientific literature about bisexual mental health. “We were particularly disappointed to see that this is still a common practice even among recently published papers,” they wrote. It’s crucial that academic research start focusing on this topic in order to help lower the rates of anxiety and depression, they added.

They ended on this note: “While there is certainly a need for interventions to address the mental health of individual bisexuals, we argue that the priority need is for social and structural interventions that acknowledge and celebrate bisexual identity.”

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