LGBT community has poorer health outcomes

EurekAlert: The local LGBT community reports twice the number of poor mental health days as the general population of Richmond and Columbia Counties, and those who identified as transgender report twice that, according to a health needs assessment conducted by faculty and students at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.
Area LGBT individuals reported an average of 7.8 poor mental health days, defined as any day they struggled with mental health issues like stress, depression, anxiety and other emotional problems. Those who identified as transgender reported even more days – individuals born female who currently identify as male reported 15.4 days and individuals born male who currently identify as female reported 12.4 days.
The average numbers of poor mental health days on previous assessments of Richmond and Columbia Counties were 3.4 and 2.8, respectively.”The mental health metrics we measured were the most astonishing in how they differed from the population in general for this area,” says Dr. Lara Stepleman, a psychologist in MCG’s Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior.Around 30 percent of the LGBT sample also reported having suicidal thoughts during their lifetime and 18.5 had actually attempted suicide. Of those who identified as transgender, almost half reported a history of suicidal thoughts and nearly 35 percent had actually attempted.”In the national data, over and over you find the transgender community fairing far worse,” Stepleman says.