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This essential guide presents up-to-date, evidence-based information that can be implemented to improve mental health services for lesbian and bisexual women in a variety of settings. It examines the systemic factors that play a role in their psychological and emotional well-being, and presents new research on protective factors that play an important role when lesbian/bisexual women face depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders.

Lesbian and Bisexual Women’s Mental Health reviews the past literature on mental health and sexual orientation—citing biased and inadequate assessment, diagnosis, and treatment approaches currently in use in the care of lesbian and bisexual women. This essential guide for clinicians and researchers presents new empirical research on lesbian/bisexual women’s mental health. It explores specific challenges that face various lesbian and bisexual female populations, with research on:

dysthymia

depression and anxiety—including a chapter on depressive distress among African-American women

the way that community size and religiosity impact lesbian/bisexual women’s psychosexual development

the relationship between shame and a client’s attachment style

the mental health implications of same-sex marriage

mental health in Taiwan’s T-Po lesbian community—with a focus on community members’ sexual orientation, gender roles, and gender identity

the interconnectedness of sexual fantasies, psychological adjustment, and close relationship functioning in lesbian/bisexual women

body image and eating issues

The lack of information about lesbian and bisexual women's health can in part be attributed to the lack of health research focused on this population. Preventive Health Measures for Lesbian and Bisexual Women helps fill this gap by providing the latest empirical, evidence-based research to address current health care issues confronted by sexual minority women (SMW). This vital source explores several diverse factors constraining the ability of lesbian and bisexual women of color to receive proper health care and exercise preventative health measures including discrimination, oppression, and stigmatization.

The reasons behind several SMW health risks are psychosocial and behavioral factors often not considered by health practitioners. Preventive Health Measures for Lesbian and Bisexual Women examines these factors in detail and provides a firm starting point for further research and ways to best address the challenges. Studies on SMW behavior and perceptions reveal how lesbians and bisexual women make choices on various vital health issues such as alcohol use, nutrition, weight management, exercise, safer sex practices, sunscreen use, and self-breast examination. The research in this book is of the highest quality, the discussions on the findings top-notch, and the conclusions important for every policymaker, health practitioner, and researcher to understand.

Research topics in Preventive Health Measures for Lesbian and Bisexual Women include:

the effects of lesbian or bisexual identity on preventative health behaviors
cancer prevention and screening behaviors using American Cancer Society guidelines as the standards for comparison
experiences with treating physicians and their attitudes--positive and negative
ways to help lesbians with cancer receive better support by service providers and lesbian communities
comparison between lesbian and heterosexual women of psychosocial responses to treatment for breast cancer
qualitative study on lesbians who frequent bars
characteristics of sexual minority women across four survey sampling methods

The Handbook of LGBT Issues in Community Mental Health provides reliable, up-to-date information on clinical issues, administrative practices, and health concerns related to the provision of public sector mental health services to LGBT people. The handbook presents clinical case material and describes various current clinical programs, with details about how they were developed and fostered, as well as their unique role in the provision of mental health services to this population. Contributors share their experiences developing two of the largest public LGBT programs in the United States and offer practical strategies for developing LGBT mental health programming in any community.

This single source brings together mental health clinicians, administrators, and advocates whose work involves public sector issues that concern the LGBT community. These seasoned experts provide in-depth information for those who need to know about the current state of mental health care in public psychiatry for LGBT individuals. The book also explores the professional and popular literature on the subject, providing a broad overview of the issues in this expanding clinical area.

The Handbook of LGBT Issues in Community Mental Health contains five chapters that target policy, administrative, and programmatic issues, providing a neglected perspective for clinicians, program developers, administrators, advocates, and funders. In addition, you’ll find:

two case studies that vividly demonstrate the relevance of culturally appropriate services and highlight the reasons why services in this area are so sorely needed

a psychiatrist’s recollections of the changes he faced while working in a homophobic environment within the Veterans Administration system

fascinating interviews with Francis Lu and Barbara Warren that probe the thoughts, experience, and opinions of these leaders in the development of public sector mental health programs for LGBT people

an examination of the role of gender identity in the treatment of a male-to-female transgender person with major mental illness In the Handbook of LGBT Issues in Community Mental Health, you’ll also find practical, how-they-did-it information that shows: how LGBT organizations in New York State organized to gain public funding for mental health and other human services, and how a new advocacy strategy that consolidated LGBT human service organizations into a statewide network was pioneered in that state

how mental health care for sexual minority teens was incorporated into the medical clinic setting at a major metropolitan hospital

how a culturally sensitive program for LGBT people with major mental illness was developed in New York State’s largest community mental health center