Impact of Stigma on Mental Health of Aboriginal LGBTQ Community

Running Head: SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY
Name of the University
Name of the course
Author Note

SOCIOLOGY 1
Introduction
Stigma, homophobia and discrimination against LGBT people tend to affect the
wellbeing and health of the community negatively. These adverse effects impact the mental and
physical health of the community people. There has been an ongoing stigma and marginalization
within the society based on sexual orientation, race and religion. The psychiatry has a history of
the composite lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identities with the mental challenges
(Howard, 2019). These have contributed to several discrimination and stigma faced by people
who are identified as LGBTQ, impacting not only their mental health but also access towards the
appropriate level of mental health care. The thesis statement of the essay aims to highlight the
impact of stigma over the mental health of the LGBTQ service utilization in the current decade.
The essay furthermore seeks to illustrate the barriers towards the usage of the services that are
specific to the aboriginal LGBTQ community people in the current decade.
Body
Barriers to Mental Health
According to the research, stigma against ignorance and homosexuality regarding gender
identity are widespread both within the society and the health systems. The marginalization and
discrimination result in an outright refusal for the provision of poor quality of care, abusive or
disrespectful treatment and other ill-treatment's. The stigma and discrimination based on the
sexual orientation and the identity of the gender tend to have a tremendous impact over the
mental health of aboriginal LGBTQ people. According to Safer et al., (2016), physical and
sexual assaults are the risk factors towards the issues of mental health together with bullying for
the youth. The discrimination and the marginalization that is experienced by the aboriginal

SOCIOLOGY 2
LGBT people contribute to the barriers towards the access to support services and health. These
barriers are compounded by health care providers who often lack the appropriate knowledge and
the skills regarding the health status of the LGBT people. According to the researchers, many of
the aboriginal LGBTQ people tend to avoid the traditional health care settings and fear for
protecting themselves from physical and mental harm from potentially homophobic nurses or the
health care providers (Dunbar et al., 2017). For the transgender people, the absence of access
towards both the surgical and hormonal treatment can adversely affect the status of their mental
health. People who are identified as the aboriginal LGBTQ also happens to have challenges or
issues related to mental health, experiencing double stigma or dual alienation where they feel
unaccepted within the mental health community due to their aboriginal LGBTQ identities.
Apart from the barrier of discrimination and stigma, there lie three other barriers towards
utilization of mental health services by aboriginal LGBTQ people. These include the following.
The financial barriers – The cost of the care lies among the most majorly cited barriers towards
the treatment regarding mental health. According to the researches, more than 60-70 per cent of
the people who have been identified as LGBTQ reported of being worried regarding the cost of
services related to health care facilities (Steele et al., 2017). The economic analysis of the matters
about the service utilization of mental health clearly indicates the price sensitivity towards use.
The demand for the services of mental health is more responsive to the price that the need for the
other types and categories of the health services. The discrimination of the LGBTI people in
each and every sector, including their employment opportunities contributes to limited
employment options and financial stability of people belonging to the population. The lack of
proper job opportunities among the population furthermore contributes as a barrier to them
towards utilizing and availing mental health services.