26 min
LGBTQ+ and Mental Health Healthy Brain Banter
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- Mental Health
In this episode we will discuss mental health in the LGBTQ+ community and how to be an ally. According to Mental Health America, 4.5% of the U.S. population identifies as being lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Of those, over 39% reported having a mental illness in the past year, which is nearly 5.8 million people. To put that into context, that is more than the entire population of Kentucky. Additionally, LGBTQ+ teens are six times more likely to experience symptoms of depression than non-LGBTQ+ identifying teens. LGBTQ+ youth are more than twice as likely to feel suicidal and over four times as likely to attempt suicide compared to heterosexual youth. I would like to clarify that identifying as LGBTQ+ is not a mental illness but the members of the community do experience higher rates of mental health issues. Finally, while not all people are a member of the LGBTQ+ community, everyone can be a supportive ally to these members.
In this episode we will be interviewing Dr. Ben Schilaty. Dr. Ben Schilaty works as an Honor Code administrator and adjunct professor at Brigham Young University. He holds three degrees from BYU: a bachelor's degree in Latin American studies, a masters in Hispanic linguistics and a masters in Social Work; he also earned a PhD in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching from the University of Arizona. Dr. Schilaty learned Spanish and Portuguese during his mission in Chihuahua Mexico, and when he lived in Bolivia, Peru and Portugal. He taught Spanish for a decade at the middle school, high school and college level. He is the author of A Walk In My Shoes: Questions I am Often Asked as a Gay Latter Day Saintand cohosts the podcast "Questions from the Closet" with his friend Charlie Bird.
In this episode we will discuss mental health in the LGBTQ+ community and how to be an ally. According to Mental Health America, 4.5% of the U.S. population identifies as being lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Of those, over 39% reported having a mental illness in the past year, which is nearly 5.8 million people. To put that into context, that is more than the entire population of Kentucky. Additionally, LGBTQ+ teens are six times more likely to experience symptoms of depression than non-LGBTQ+ identifying teens. LGBTQ+ youth are more than twice as likely to feel suicidal and over four times as likely to attempt suicide compared to heterosexual youth. I would like to clarify that identifying as LGBTQ+ is not a mental illness but the members of the community do experience higher rates of mental health issues. Finally, while not all people are a member of the LGBTQ+ community, everyone can be a supportive ally to these members.
In this episode we will be interviewing Dr. Ben Schilaty. Dr. Ben Schilaty works as an Honor Code administrator and adjunct professor at Brigham Young University. He holds three degrees from BYU: a bachelor's degree in Latin American studies, a masters in Hispanic linguistics and a masters in Social Work; he also earned a PhD in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching from the University of Arizona. Dr. Schilaty learned Spanish and Portuguese during his mission in Chihuahua Mexico, and when he lived in Bolivia, Peru and Portugal. He taught Spanish for a decade at the middle school, high school and college level. He is the author of A Walk In My Shoes: Questions I am Often Asked as a Gay Latter Day Saintand cohosts the podcast "Questions from the Closet" with his friend Charlie Bird.
26 min