Mental health symptoms and suicidality in Iranian gay men

Abstract

Background No published data is currently available on mental health symptoms and suicidality in Iranian gay men – a population facing serious legal threats including capital punishment. Methods The present study provides initial data on this topic by assessing mental health symptoms (SCL-90) and suicidality (BSSI) in N = 213 gay men in Tehran, Iran. Results Last-week mental health symptoms were severe in 4.2% of gay men, moderate in 7.5%, minor in 27.7%, and absent in 61.6% of Iranian gay men. Regarding last-week suicidality: 1.9% were highly likely to attempt suicide, 7.5% reported having threatened to commit suicide, 19.7% reported suicidal ideation, and 80.28% revealed no suicidality. Last-week mental health symptoms and last-week suicidality were correlated in gay men to a high degree. Conclusions When descriptively comparing the SCL-90 and BSSI scores with those in the general Iranian population reported in previous studies, gay men reported more serious mental health symptoms, and more suicidal ideation, threats, and attempts. The decriminalization of same-sex sexual encounters and accepting social attitudes towards gay men are needed in Iran to help improve this population's mental health and reduce their suicidality.

Enfermagem psiquiátrica: cuidados ao púbere homossexual a luz da Teoria de Orem

“…O comportamento homosexual é caracterizado como errôneo em muitas religiões super conservadoras por ser vista contraditória a natureza humana, tal estigma gera repressão que impacta diretamente na saúde mental do "ser", desencadeando episódios depressivos, tornando Brazilian Journal of Health Review, Curitiba, v. 7, n. 3, p. 01-15, may/jun., 2024 assim os homossexuais pertencentes ao grupo de risco ao suicídio, tal parcela minoritária da população experimenta o dobro da experiencia de autoextermínio comparada a grande esmagadora porção que tem relação com indivíduos de sexo diferente (Kabir;Brinsworth, 2021).…”

Influence of Perceived Media Support on Negative Experiences of LGBTQ+ Individuals

“…As a result of identity delegitimization, LGBTQ+ individuals often experience feelings of social and cultural isolation (see Abdi & Van Gilder, 2016). There is evidence that Iranian LGBTQ individuals suffer from a disproportionate amount of severe mental health symptoms and suicidal ideation (e.g., Kabir & Brinsworth, 2021). Iranian LGBTQ+ people regularly adopt coping strategies to deal with stressful encounters (Yadegarfard, 2019), such as attempting to integrate into the dominant community by identifying with Iranian family values (e.g., marriage and children; Karimi, 2018) or cultivating cultural distance from the dominant Iranian community (Abdi & Van Gilder, 2016).…”

Medical profession bias against sexual minorities threatens the health of Iranian sexual minorities during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Iran is one of the countries with the highest restrictions on sexual minorities. In Iran, sexual minority completely denied and the country’s political authorities generally deny the existence of a sexual minority (Kabir and Brinsworth, 2021), and because of this denial and neglect, very little health-related research has been done on sexual minority. Therefore, health care providers know little about sexual minorities and sometimes look at them in a degrading way, which can lead to discrimination in receiving medical services.…”