Exploring Substance Abuse and Mental Health in LGBT Community

This report delves into the critical issue of substance abuse within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community in Ireland. It begins by establishing the prevalence of substance abuse, highlighting its higher rates compared to heterosexual individuals, and connecting it to factors like discrimination, fear of rejection, and psychological distress, including anxiety, depression, and self-harm. The report reviews existing literature, emphasizing the role of cultural stigmatization, lack of healthcare access, and inadequate literacy in exacerbating substance abuse. It also examines the impact of discrimination and its effect on mental health, exploring the vulnerabilities that arise from the failure to fully accept sexual identity. The report outlines the aim of the study, which is to identify the reasons behind the higher risk of substance abuse and addiction in the LGBT community, as well as the association between stigma from service providers and substance use. It proposes a qualitative research approach using semi-structured interviews to gather data from LGBT individuals in Ireland, focusing on their experiences and perspectives. The methodology includes participant selection criteria, interview methods, data collection, and analysis using a grounded theory approach to identify themes and patterns related to substance abuse and mental health challenges. The findings are expected to shed light on the complex factors contributing to substance abuse within the LGBT community and inform the development of effective interventions and support systems.

Running head: LGBT COMMUNITY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction:
From a decade, substance abuse is a highly prevalent problem in the lesbian, gay and
bisexual community of Ireland (Wallace and Santacruz 2017). Although the significant number
of individuals of the community is able to live freely without the fear of rejection or any other
stigma, the stigmatized behavior is still present in the community (Wallace and Santacruz
2017). A considerate number of literature documented that in the LGBT network, the substance
abuse is always higher compared to the individuals who are heterosexual because of inability to
deal with life experiences (Joyce et al. 2018). Researchers identified that apart from the stress
associated with life, the additional stress associated with being a sexual minority group has been
a potential contributor to substance abuse. (Joyce et al. 2018). They tend to experience the fear
of rejection and isolation and adopt the habit of frequent substance abuse (Dennis 2019). It is not
surprising that they are exposed to psychological disorders such as anxiety, depression and post-
traumatic stress disorders because of the stress they are unable to cope with. The youth workers
reported that 27% of the individuals have a tendency of self-harm and 16 years is the age where
individuals tend to involve in the act of self-harm such as suicide (Corkery et al. 2017). On
another level, the psychological illness and tendency of self-harm are induced by the drugs they
are consuming. The drugs reduce the inhibition associated with the behavior such as unprotected
sex, reckless driving (Beasley, Jenkins and Valenti 2015). Even the health professionals failed to
provide safe and responsive care which further contributed to a high morbidity rate. This paper
will provide a background of the issue, literature review, aim of the research, research questions,
methodology, and expected outcome in the following paragraphs.

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Background of the issue:
Substance abuse is defined as the addition of consuming drugs which are not legal.
There has been growing concern in recent years regarding the recreational drug use by teenagers
and young adults in Ireland where researchers highlighted serious psychological issues
associated with the drug use (Robson 2011). As discussed by Nolan (2018), LGBT people are
substantially more likely to involve in substance abuse compared to heterosexual individuals
(three times higher). A quarter survey in north Ireland suggested that approximately 52% of the
transgender are associated with drug abuse compared to north Ireland population (Ledwith and
Springett 2010). 91% of the LGBT community is involved in drinking alcohol compared to 74%
of the north Ireland pupation. Emotional and psychological distress results from the
stigmatization behavior are perhaps the most significant reason behind involving in the drug
abuse (Pirona et al. 2017). Researchers suggested that they tend to involve in drug abuse
because of the lack of access to health care services. 83% of the individuals of the community
reported that the majority of the health care services they receive are not suitable for them
because of the stigmatized behavior of the health professionals (Corkery et al. 2018). They are
not comfortable to share their issues with health professionals and what kind of drugs they use.
Consequently, this phenomenon contributed to a higher prevalence of substance abuse (Aromin
2016).
Literature review:
A substantial amount of research has been conducted abortive regarding the reasons
behind the high prevalence of substance abuse amongst the LGBT community (Wallace and
Santacruz 2017). However, lack of comprehensive literature regarding the tendency of taking
drugs amongst the young adults of adolescents of LGBT community contributed to lack of

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identification of the reason behind high prevalence and inability to design accurate framework
which can support the wellbeing of the community (Pirona et al. 2017). Yet it is increasingly
accepted cultural stigmatization of homosexuality creates negative prejudices evens amongst the
gay community (Pirona et al. 2017). Consequently, individuals with different sexual orientation
experience sexual discrimination in the community which further exposed them to psychological
distress. As discussed by Slater et al. (2017) some gay and lesbian individuals failed to accept
their sexual identity fully which resulted in personal vulnerabilities, a dominant fear of rejection
and insecurities. A considerate number of individuals experience psychological distress because
of homelessness due to sexual orientation. This is further manifested as lack of self-esteem, lack
of self-confidence, empowerment, and anxiety. The researchers used logistic regression for
analyzing the association between discrimination and substance abuse measures amongst 1351
gay, lesbian and adults who are unsure about their sexual orientations. The researchers
highlighted that sexual discrimination and inadequate literacy are major reasons behind the high
risk of involving in the selective use of drugs. Drugs and alcohol often provide individuals with
the opportunity to cop up with their personal insecurities, boost self-esteem, thus reducing social
anxiety they experienced. The tendency of taking drugs increased to the extent where the ability
to interact with surroundings and society without taking drugs gradually deteriorate. The drug
induces certain neurotransmitters that reduce the anxiety or tension associated with a social
gathering and thus it is desirable in the LGBT culture. Kerr et al. (2017) conducted a systematic
review regarding the LGBT population and substance abuse on the peer-reviewed journal
suggested. The findings suggested that not only sexual discrimination increases the higher risk of
substance abuse within the LGBT community, the stigmatized behavior of the community, lack
of access to the health care services, inadequate literacy, but lack of empowerment are also

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equally responsible for the high prevalence of drug abuse. However, researchers also suggested
that the reason for high prevalence varies depending on the race, gender, sociodemographic
status, culture. The level of involvement with drugs also varies depending on homophobia,
stigma, access, social norms. The limitation of the study is that it is strictly focused on systematic
review. To identify the factors associated high prevalence of substance abuse, qualitative or
experimental study is required to undertake. On the other hand, Lee et al. (2016) conducted an
online survey considering 8141 college students of 11 different universities in order to evaluate
the relationship between sexual orientation, race, gender, and drug abuse. The result suggested
similar findings like other studies mentioned above that sexual discrimination is one of the
crucial factors behind high engagement with drug abuse. On the other hand, Hafeez et al.
(2017), conducted a literature review where the findings suggested that because of cultural
stigmatization health care providers lack the empathy, compassion to communicate with the
individuals of the LGBT community. Therefore, they experience intense fear of rejections and
unable to share their health concerns. This factor indirectly contributed to the high engagement
to drug consumption. Few individuals develop poor eating habits. Sarma (2007), conducted an
exploratory study regarding the drug use of LGBT young adults between 18 to 26. The result
highlighted a range of risk factors associated with the drug abuse such as the tendency of
involving in unprotected sex because of reduction of inhibition, aggression, and violence
associated with the consumption of illegal drug use, drug-induced psychosis, depression, and
anxiety. Arensman et al. (2016), examined 121 consecutive suicides occurring in the
southeastern part of Ireland in between 2007 to 2012. The result suggested that 15-24-year-old
individuals were more likely to engage into the suicide because of high substance abuse and
therefore, extensive study is required to identify the reason behind high prevalence which further

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assists in designing framework to support the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of the
researchers. Although few researchers documented the reason behind the high prevalence of
drug abuse in LGBT community, very little study has been conducted in Ireland to identify
reasons behind the high prevalence of drug abuse since the factors vary depending on culture,
race, ethnicity, social norm. Hence, an extensive study involving qualitative and quantitative
research is required considering solely the LGBT population to gain the perspective of the
community.
Study aim and objective:
The aim of the study is to identify the reason behind the higher risk of substance abuse
and addiction in the LGBT community. The study also intended to identify whether there is any
connection exists between stigma from the service provider and a higher prevalence of substance
use within the LGBT community.
Objective:
The objectives of the study would be:
• To identify the reason behind the higher risk of substance abuse and addiction in the LGBT
community
• To identify the association between stigma from the service provider and a higher prevalence
of substance use within the LGBT community.
• To identify how they cope up with the psychological distress they exposed to.

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Research question:
This proposal will undertake two research question such as:
1) Why does the LGBT community face a higher risk of substance abuse and addiction?
2) Is there any connection between stigma from the service provider and a higher prevalence of
substance use within the LGBT community?
Methodology:
Research design and rationale:
A qualitative approach, semi-structured interview method focusing on the specific group
would be undertaken the factors associated with a high prevalence of involvement in the
substance abuse in the LGBT community. The semi-structured interview method would also help
to gain the association between stigma from the service provider and a higher prevalence of
substance use within the LGBT community. The rationale behind this methodology is that semi-
structured interviews are regarded as the best suitable research design since it provides
researchers an opportunity to gain the perspective of the participants such as values, beliefs, and
attitude (Brannen 2017). Moreover, it allows the researchers to obtain not only the factual data
but also emotional data by assessing the mental status of the participants who are best aware of
the issues. Hence, the research design is appropriate for conducting the research.
Participant selection:
The participants would be selected from the LGBT community of Ireland to identify the
issue associated with it. 5 participants would be selected from each subgroup such as Lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender to identify the factors associated with a high prevalence of

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substance abuse. The participants would be selected based on criteria such as 1) fluent in
English
2) Belongs to LGBT community 3) have at least 1-year experience of engaging in the substance
abuse 4) ) experience stigmatized behavior from health care providers. Any individuals of the
LGBT community meeting the criteria other than these three criteria would be excluded.
Interview and data collection method:
The interview will be conducted with the participants of the LGBT community in face to
face interaction method. The open-ended questionnaire would be prepared by researchers where
for each research question 5 set of the questionnaire would be designed by researchers. This
mode of questionnaire provides an opportunity for the participants to share their concerns with
the researchers. The primary data collection would be done by noting down the response’s
provided by participants as well as the response would be recorded in the tape recorder so that
any missed out point can be collected in the tape recorder. Two participants would be
interviewed each day. Hence, 20 participants of the LGBT community would be interviewed
within 10 days. Written consent would be obtained from each participant in order to avoid any
legal ethical issues. Each participant would be provided with a brief description of the process
and purpose of the interview and side effects of the research. The written consent would be
obtained after providing detailed information of the participants.
Data analysis:
The interview would be recorded with the help of the audio recorder. The data would be
transcribed using a qualitative data analysis software program and in this case, the grounded
theory approach would be used. The collected data would be analyzed by utilizing the

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conventional content analysis approach inductively. The data would be gathered and they
would be designed into different themes. The thematic data would be reanalyzed continuously in
order to identify new themes. When the coding process would be conducted, a continuous
comparison would be required for an accurate analysis of the data. This process would be
undertaken for comparing the perception of each participant regarding the high risk associated
with substance abuse in the LGBT community and identify the association between stigma from
the health care providers and substance use by LGBT community. This would help to obtain an
accurate result of the research.
Expected outcome:
The successful accomplishment of the research would help researchers to gain a detailed
idea about the factors behind high risk associated with the high substance abuse. Their
perception regarding the high prevalence of substance abuse and the reason behind engagement
with the substance abuse would help researchers to identify the factors that required immediate
attention. Moreover, the recommendations provided by the participants would be tested for the
feasibility. If they are feasible then, the recommendations would be incorporated in the policies,
health care supports to fully support the individuals of the LGBT community. The initiatives
would be taken to implement the recommendations of the individuals of the community. This
would help the researchers to design the interventions that reduce the involvement with drugs
and promote empowerment and wellbeing.

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Task And Time 1st
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Background of
the issue
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Literature Review
of the issue and
designing research
question
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Research
Methodology for
the research
question
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Design of Data
Collection and
Methods
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Data Collection of
the participants
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Data Analysis of 

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the participants of
the interview
Conclusion and
Recommendations

Proof- Reading 
Sending First Draft
to Supervisor
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Printing, Binding
and Submission
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References:
Arensman, E., Bennardi, M., Larkin, C., Wall, A., McAuliffe, C., McCarthy, J., Williamson, E.
and Perry, I.J., 2016. Suicide among young people and adults in Ireland: method characteristics,
toxicological analysis and substance abuse histories compared. PLoS one, 11(11), p.e0166881.
Aromin, R.A., 2016. Substance abuse prevention, assessment, and treatment for lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender youth. Pediatric Clinics, 63(6), pp.1057-1077.
Beasley, C.R., Jenkins, R.A. and Valenti, M., 2015. Special section on LGBT resilience across
cultures: Introduction. American journal of community psychology, 55(1-2), pp.164-166.
Brannen, J., 2017. Combining qualitative and quantitative approaches: an overview. In Mixing
methods: Qualitative and quantitative research (pp. 3-37). Routledge.
Corkery, J.M., Loi, B., Claridge, H., Goodair, C. and Schifano, F., 2018. Deaths in the Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Transgender United Kingdom communities associated with GHB and
precursors. Current drug metabolism, 19(13), pp.1086-1099.
Corkery, J.M., Loi, B., Claridge, H., Goodair, C. and Schifano, F., 2018. Deaths in the Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Transgender United Kingdom communities associated with GHB and
precursors. Current drug metabolism, 19(13), pp.1086-1099.
Dennis, J.P., 2019. Nothing out there: Community awareness and delinquency among gay and
lesbian youth. Journal of LGBT Youth, 16(1), pp.1-17.
Hafeez, H., Zeshan, M., Tahir, M.A., Jahan, N. and Naveed, S., 2017. Health care disparities
among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth: a literature review. Cureus, 9(4).