Symptoms of being in the closet
'The closet is a terrible place' How coming out transformed five lives
Davina Shah, 33
Traffic officer, north-west London
When I was in my prior 20s I wrote my mother an eight-page letter. It was a mini-memoir starting from pre-adolescence: “I used to wear dungarees and now I perceive why …” It went right up through secondary college and college. What I was trying to say was: “My sexuality is not a choice.” I thought: “If I just say her, we’ll receive into an argument, because she likes an argument.” I posted it through the letterbox, phoned her and said: “I’ve posted a letter and I need you to read it,” and she said: “You’re gay, aren’t you?”
She read it, and when I came through the door she gave me a big cuddle and said: “It’s OK – we’ll get through this,” and I thought: “Oh, this is going to be easier than I thought. Brilliant!” And then she went on a hunger strike, which even for her was pretty dramatic. But she had got divorced when she was 21 and six months’ pregnant, so she already felt as if she was breaking cultural norms – she freaked out because she thought this w
Coming Out of the Closet May Be Good For Your Health
For lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals, a new verb suggests that coming out provides a tangible health help, both mentally and biologically
A new analyze by a team of researchers from the University of Montreal seems to scientifically support what many have adj suspected: For lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals, coming out provides a tangible benefit in terms of both organic and mental health.
The findings, published today in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine (the paper is not yet linked online), are the consequence of a research originally intended to see if, overall, lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals had higher levels of cortisol—a hormone whose presence in the body reflects chronic stress—as well as a greater chance of self-reported negative psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety and depression. The researchers’ original hypothesis was that people in this group would be more likely to suffer from these symptoms.
Their main findings were something of a surprise—among their sample of 87 participants, gay and bisex
‘Living In The Closet’: What It Really Means For LGBTQIA+ Mental Health
“It’s okay. It may not seem like it right now, but you are going to be fine.” &#; Connor Franta
All I needed to hear this to understand it’s OK to accept that I’m different from everyone else. June is here and with June we welcome Pride Month! While this month can be an open celebration for many LGBTQ+ members, for some, it can be a quiet celebratory month.
With so much focusing on coming out, we nearly unlearn to emphasize what it means to be in the closet. Being in the closet isn’t a new concept but it is still unfamiliar to many.
As important as it is to understand what living in the closet means, it’s essential to understand how it impacts the mental and passionate state of someone firmly in the closet.
Understanding what it means to be in the closet, the risks associated with coming out of the closet, and how being in the closet can affect your mental health can help you or your closeted loved one to uncover the support they need.
What Does “In The Closet” Mean?
In the real world, a closet is wher
Internalised homophobia and oppression happens to gay, lesbian and bisexual people, and even heterosexuals, who possess learned and been taught that heterosexuality is the norm and “correct way to be”. Hearing and seeing negative depictions of LGB people can direct us to internalise, or take in, these negative messages. Some LGB people suffer from mental distress as a result.
A general sense of personal worth and also a positive view of your sexual orientation are critical for your mental health. You, like many lesbian, gay and bisexual people, may have hidden your sexual orientation for a long period. Research carried out in Northern Ireland into the needs of young LGBT people in revealed that the average age for men to realise their sexual orientation was 12, yet the average age they actually confided in someone was It is during these formative years when people are coming to understand and acknowledge their sexual orientation that internalised homophobia can really affect a person.
Internalised homophobia manifests itself in varying ways that can be linked to mental health. Examples