Image credit: Myriam Zilles from Pixabay 

Society has changed by leaps and bounds in the way it treats LGBTQ people, but that doesn’t mean that things still can’t be better This is even more urgent given a recent study published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Conducted by researchers at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School using data from the Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, the study found out that LGBTQ teens are twice as likely to experience depression when compared to their heterosexual counterparts.

Researchers looked at data from 1999 to 2017 and discovered that incidences of depression in heterosexual teens fell from 29.3 percent to 23.7 percent. Incidences of depression in LGBTQ tweens remained almost the same, from 51.4 percent to 51.9 percent. The study also found that there was an increase in depression rates for queer teens in same-sex relationships. Back in 1999, 48.7 percent of respondents said they experienced depression. In 2017, it increased to 53.8 percent of the respondents.

These findings are even more troubling considering another study, also published in JAMA Pediatrics. According to that study, suicide attempts are three times higher among LGBTQ teens. Especially at risk are transgender teens, who are six times as likely to attempt suicide compared to their heterosexual counterparts.

Where to Get Help

If you or a loved one is having suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. You may also click here or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for more resources.

The suicide action phone numbers for other countries are:

US – Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860 Available 24/7

Canada – Trans Lifeline: (877) 330-6366 Available 24/7

For the other Asian countries, click here while those who are in various countries in Europe may check here.

For Adam4Adam users from other parts of the world not mentioned above, you may click thisthis, and this link.

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