Assessment of sexual and gender minority status in serious mental illness research

What is it about?

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) status is currently underreported by serious mental illness researchers. We recommend the incorporation of consistent SGM assessment and reporting within manuscripts. This will lead researchers to better explore how experiences of stress relevant to SGM groups could impact the development of serious mental illnesses and their symptom severity. We provide example SGM demographic questions for these purposes.

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Photo by James A. Molnar on Unsplash

Photo by James A. Molnar on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Sexual and gender minority groups have been shown to have higher diagnostic rates and worse symptom severity of a number of mental health conditions. Expansion of this research into the field of serious mental illnesses is vitally important for our understanding of how stressors relevant to this identity may impact risk for these disorders and later development of affirmative interventions for sexual and gender minority people with a serious mental illness.