Sexual Orientation Obsession Disorder - Is it Different than Homophobia?

Just last night I noted how the Christofascists hysteria over gays and gay rights strikes me as a form of mental illness.  Then this morning I came across an article that would seem to explain the behavior of folks like Rick Santorum, Ken Cuccinelli, Tony Perkins, and much of the Catholic Church hierarchy: Sexual Orientation Obsession Disorder.   In short, we may be seeing something more than plain old homophobia at work.  What is Sexual Orientation Obsession Disorder?  It is an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that revolves around the fear of being—or being perceived as—gay.  How does one convince himself/herself that they are not really gay?  By being as stridently anti-gay as possible, although in the cases of Rick Santorum and Ken Cuccinelli,my personal bet is that they ARE gay and struggle because they cannot let go of the psychological damage they suffered being raised Catholic, something I know about first hand.  A piece in The Daily Beast looks at a new study (subscription required) that looks at Sexual Orientation Obsession Disorder.   Here are highlights:

“Simon” is not gay but he used to spend several hours a day worrying that he might be.  His fear of being gay led him to avoid physical contact with other men at work, where he dodged one-on-one meetings with men, and at home, where he avoided attending his children’s sporting events so that he wouldn’t have to interact with coaches and dads.

Simon suffered from a sexual orientation obsession, a fairly common but under-examined manifestation of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that revolves around the fear of being—or being perceived as—gay.

Simon’s case study is the focus of a 2011 article co-authored by Dr. Monnica T. Williams, a clinical psychologist and the leading expert on sexual orientation-themed OCD (SO-OCD). In a new study published in the April issue of Archives of Sexual Behavior, Dr. Williams sheds even more light on this confusing and often debilitating mental disorder.

For Dr. Williams, SO-OCD presents a unique clinical challenge because it can easily be mistaken for internalized homophobia, in which someone who is actually lesbian, gay, or bisexual suffers personal and social anxiety over his or her sexual orientation. Those who suffer from SO-OCD, by contrast, do not take pleasure in homosexual thoughts but nonetheless have an obsessive need to reassure themselves that they do not find them pleasurable.

These reassurances can take the form of time-consuming “checking” rituals that SO-OCD sufferers use to verify their true sexual orientation. In Dr. Williams’s clinical experience, these rituals include mentally picturing homosexual acts and checking for sexual stimulation, asking a loved one to verbally verify one’s heterosexuality, or looking at homosexual imagery to ensure that it does not induce arousal.
Some male sufferers of SO-OCD may even be so hounded by obsessive thoughts that they become “desperate to find out if they would enjoy a homosexual experience,” causing them to seek out unwanted—and ultimately upsetting—same-sex encounters.

Those who experience internalized homophobia or other forms of anxiety over being lesbian, gay, or bisexual, on the other hand, would not experience the activities in these rituals as inherently distressing. In her practice, for instance, Dr. Williams once encountered a middle-aged man who was concerned he might have SO-OCD due to “ongoing doubts about whether he should leave his wife and move to Miami to start a new life as an openly gay man.”

[A]s Dr. Williams and her co-authors point out, an individual with SO-OCD “may or may not have negative feelings toward LGBT individuals” on a sociopolitical or interpersonal level.

SO-OCD is a mental disorder, not a pathological form of bigotry. SO-OCD sufferers have a lot more in common with Jack Nicholson avoiding cracks in the sidewalk in As Good as It Gets than they do with the Westboro Baptist Church. SO-OCD also occurs with surprising frequency given how scant the research is on the subject.

For those who receive treatment, however, this distress can be alleviated using proven therapeutic techniques. As Dr. Williams notes in her team’s 2011 study of Simon, treatment for SO-OCD “follows the same structure as any other form of OCD”: expose the patient to his or her fears and interrupt the rituals that accompany them.

[F]or Simon, it alleviated his symptoms by allowing him to unmask and dismiss his fears. His depression cleared away and his quality of life score rose dramatically post-treatment.  But Simon’s success story aside, Dr. Williams and her co-authors remain concerned that the larger population of SO-OCD sufferers do not have access to this knowledge or these treatments.

For a potentially debilitating form of mental illness that can so easily be confused with internalized homophobia or outright bigotry, some clarity does seem to be in order.

It is nice to know that I was perhaps correct when I call out some of the GOP politicians and "family values" group leaders as crazy - they are mentally ill. 

Washington Post: Santorum Wrong for the Presidency

One can only hope that the uproar over Rick Santorum's announced belief that there should be no separation between church and state continues - both so that it (i) helps to end Frothy Mix's political career once and for all and (ii) so that additional media focus will continue to be brought to bear on just how out of step much of the GOP base is with the history of this nation, not to mention objective reality. Today's Washington Post has a main editorial denouncing Santorum and flat out stating that the man is unfit for the presidency. In addition, an o-ed column takes up where the editorial board's column leaves off. First, these highlights from the editorial board piece:

Mr. Kennedy wasn’t telling people of faith to stay out of public life. He was restating the constitutional principle that has helped make America a great and resilient country: No faith should be able to dictate government policy, and government shouldn’t dictate theology to any faith.

The “war” on Catholics that Mr. Santorum imagines stems most recently from President Obama’s proposal, since withdrawn, that Catholic hospitals and universities (though not churches) be required to include contraception in the health insurance plans they buy for their employees.

[D]oes Mr. Santorum really understand the difference between talking about a policy and imposing his views? When he so misreads Mr. Kennedy, when he perceives a war that does not exist, he shows a lack of appreciation for the First Amendment.

That Mr. Santorum believes he has the standing to declaim on the rightness of Mr. Obama’s faith, and whether it is sufficiently Bible-based, is in itself disqualifying.

The op-ed column looks further at Santorum's unfitness and - in my view, the man's extremism, if not mental illness. Here are excerpts:

Mullah Rick has spoken. He wants religion returned to “the public square,” is opposed to contraception, premarital sex and abortion under any circumstances, wants children educated in what amounts to little red schoolhouses and called President Obama a “snob” for extolling college or some other kind of post-high school education. This is not a political platform. It’s a fatwa.

Santorum is severe and unamusing about his faith, and that is his prerogative. But he has shoved his beliefs in our faces, leaving no doubt that his presidency would be informed by his extremely conservative Catholicism. Santorum’s views are too conservative even for most Catholics.

This is a perilous and divisive approach. We have all of world history to warn us about what happens when religion takes too prominent a role. The public square gets used for beheadings and the like. . . . . layering religion over politics is dangerous. Santorum cannot impose — and should not argue — that his political beliefs come from God. That closes all debate and often infuriates those who differ.

This belief that religion has been banished from public discussion is a conservative trope without foundation. . . . . the American public square is soaked in religion or religion-speak.

Santorum’s views on the place of religion and his quaint ideas about education are so anachronistic they would be laughable. But whenever I start to giggle a bit, I find that some absurd statement resonates with Republican primary voters.

Rick Santorum is not, as some would have it, the Republican Party’s problem. The GOP is half the political equation, and so its inability to offer candidates of sound views and judgments is everyone’s problem. We have to vote for someone after all. But when I mull Santorum’s views on contraception, the role of women, the proper place for religion and what he thinks about education, I think he’s either running for president of the wrong country or marooned in the wrong century. The man is lost.

As I have noted before, Santorum's hysterical need for religious certainty and a desire to stomp out any differing views is frightening. The man and his supporters literally want a world where all uncertainty and any requirement that people use their intellect has been banished from existence. It is, in my view, indicative of individuals who have extreme mental health issues - and who are a treat to constitutional government as we have known it.

4th Circuit Throws Out Cuccinelli's Health Care Reform Challenge

Long before he ran for the office of Virginia Attorney General, Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli had shown himself to be an extreme far right ideologue who thought himself above the law and only too willing to twist and distort the law to further his own lunatic beliefs. Since becoming attorney general, Kookinelli has time and time again embarrassed the Commonwealth of Virginia and garnered the state bad publicity both on the national and international stage. Now, Kookinelli has rightly received a severe spanking by the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit - one of the most conservative Courts of Appeal in the United States - which threw out Kookinelli's challenge of what Kookinelli and his Christofascists followers call Obamacare. Mother Jones looks at this development and here are some excerpts:.

Today, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, one of the most conservative appellate courts in the country, threw out Cuccinelli's lawsuit challenging Obama's Affordable Care Act and its individual mandate. The 4th Circuit never really got to the constitutional issues of the health care law because it found that Cuccinelli and the state of Virgina did not even have standing to bring the case. The individual mandate, the court found, "imposes no obligations on the sole plaintiff, Virginia," meaning that Virginia had no injury nor future harm that might be remedied by the intervention of a federal judge.

It's a classic example of something Cuccinelli should have learned in Civil Procedure 101: Just because you don't like a law doesn't mean you have the right to go to court and get it struck down. You have to be affected by the law somehow, and it was clear from the very beginning that Cuccinelli and Virginia were not. And if Cuccinelli is hoping the U.S. Supreme Court might come to his rescue on this one, he's probably dreaming. While you never know with the Roberts court conservatives, who have proven far more political than consistent, stalwart conservatives like Antonin Scalia. Roberts himself has been extremely harsh with plaintiffs on standing issues. (See Robert's dissent in Massachusetts v. EPA, a case challenging the EPA's inaction on climate change.)

But Cuccinelli's legal work isn't, of course, about the law. It's about politics. His concern with constitutional issues is rather selective. Otherwise, how to explain his office's defense of local law enforcement officials in the state arresting gay men under sodomy laws the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional eight years ago? Or his legal opinion that state universities have no legal right to protect students and staff against anti-gay discrimination, despite the 14th Amendment's promises of equal protection under the law? Or what of his waste of taxpayer dollars suing over the health care bill in a case he had no legitimate right to bring? The health care lawsuit won Cuccinelli fans across the country, who will no doubt come in handy when he needs to raise money when he runs for senator or governor down the road. All of that might make him a good politician, but it still makes him a bad lawyer.

Anti-Gay Bigotry: Michele Bachmann's Ticket to Power

I truly cannot get my mind around the mindset of those who seem to always need someone else to look down upon and denigrate so that they can feel better about themselves. To me, it reflects a true sickness of the soul. And yet it's typically those who wrap themselves in the banner of conservative Christianity that most often exhibit this insidious mindset. They hate non-Christians. They hate immigrants. The hate non-whites. And of course, they hate LGBT individuals. Combined with this psychologically damaged group are the opportunists who prey upon the former for self-enrichment - e.g., the Maggie Gallagher's and Bill Donohue's of the world - and those who seek political power. In the case of Michele Bachmann, she seems to be a combination of both the psychologically damaged group as well as an opportunist who has elected to ride anti-LGBT hate to political power. One can only hope she ultimately crashes and burns in the endeavor. The New York Times has a piece that looks at Bachmann's utilization of anti-gay bigotry to fuel her political rise. For Bachmann, gays have been the equivalent to Hitler's use of the Jews for personal political advancement. In my view, the woman is both dangerous and evil. Here are some story highlights:
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In March 2004, with Massachusetts soon to allow gay couples to wed, Michele Bachmann delivered a dire warning to her fellow Minnesotans: The children of their state were at risk.
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“We will have immediate loss of civil liberties for five million Minnesotans,” Mrs. Bachmann, then a state senator, told a Christian television network as thousands gathered on the steps of the Capitol to rally for a same-sex marriage ban she proposed. “In our public schools, whether they want to or not, they’ll be forced to start teaching that same-sex marriage is equal, that it is normal and that children should try it.”
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[H]er political rise has its roots in her dogged pursuit of an amendment to the State Constitution prohibiting same-sex marriage — “her banner issue,” said Scott Dibble, a Democratic state senator who is gay — and her mixing of politics with her evangelical faith.
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“That’s her recipe: find the issue, then use it politically to mobilize previously marginalized or disconnected groups,” said Lawrence Jacobs, a political scientist at the University of Minnesota. “For those of us who followed her from the beginning, it’s like reading a romance novel with a formula.”
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Mrs. Bachmann’s strong stance on homosexuality — she once likened it to “personal bondage, personal despair and personal enslavement” — and her anti-abortion views have appeal for some Republican primary voters.
. . . . Yet her position has also become a distraction for her campaign, drawing critics and subjecting her family to the kind of scrutiny once reserved for the relatives of nominees. It has exposed a longstanding rift between the congresswoman and her stepsister, who is a lesbian. It has also raised questions about whether her husband, Marcus, who runs two Christian counseling centers, practices “reparative therapy,” or gay-to-straight counseling, derided by critics as an effort to “pray away the gay.”
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[I]n November 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Court declared that state’s law banning same-sex marriage unconstitutional. Mrs. Bachmann sprang into action. “She was holding press conferences and saying, ‘We can’t have that in Minnesota,’ ” said Don Betzold, a Democrat and a former chairman of the State Senate Judiciary Committee. She vowed to introduce a constitutional amendment and, seemingly overnight, emerged as Public Enemy No. 1 to Minnesota’s gay rights advocates.
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“The threat she represented was very real,” said Mr. Dibble, who remembers Mrs. Bachmann “trotting out junk science and debunked claims that being gay is a choice.” . . . . But Christian conservatives embraced it — and Mrs. Bachmann.
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Her passion proved too much for her stepsister, Helen LaFave, who is openly gay and turned up for a hearing on the bill. “She saw us — you could see the shock on her face,” said Linda Cielinski, another stepsister who was there. “I don’t think she has any idea how badly she’s hurt our side of the family, and I don’t think she cares.”
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Her tenacity earned her a shot at a job in Congress. In 2006, Bachmann loyalists turned out in droves to help her leap over more senior Republicans to grab the party’s nomination for the seat she now holds.
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Mrs. Bachmann has not been a leader in Washington on same-sex marriage, but has co-sponsored four resolutions opposing it. Here in St. Paul, though, her advocacy seems to have had a lingering effect. A constitutional amendment barring gays from marrying will be on the Minnesota ballot in 2012.
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Can we ship her hate filled, conniving ass to Iran? Or perhaps Saudi Arabia. We definitely do not need her religious fueled poison in this country.

Bachmann Shoots Herself in the Foot With Endorsement of Slavery Statement

While continuing to pander to the most ignorant and bigoted elements of the GOP base, the utterly insane Michele Bachmann shot herself in the foot in a major way by signing onto the Family Leader's "Marriage Vow" which in reality translates into ugly anti-gay marriage and racist language. Bachman is apparently trying to deny that she endorsed the portion of the hate group's vow that stated that black children were better off under slavery than in toady's broken families. The statement is indicative of (i) the latent racism that I find always just beneath the surface of all of the "family values" Christianist organizations and (ii) the ease with which these supposed Christians rewrite history to suit their agenda. As for Bachmann, it demonstrates that she's a liar - just like her husband who claims not to engage in ex-gay therapy even though it has now been documented that he does precisely that. Once again, if a self-congratulatory conservative Christian's lips are moving, the safest bet is to assume that they are lying. The Washington Post has coverage of Bachmann's lame attempt to lie her way out of the slavery statement debacle:
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A socially conservative group has apologized for including a passage about slavery in a pledge it asked the Republican candidates to sign as a prerequisite for the group’s endorsement in the presidential race. Rep. Michele Bachmann had been the first GOP hopeful to sign “The Marriage Vow,” which included in the introduction a section that lamented that “the Institution of Marriage in America is in great crisis.”
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One piece of evidence it offered was the claim that a black person born into slavery “was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American president.”
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The suggestion that African American babies may have somehow been better off under slavery touched off sharp criticism from liberals and commentators, who noted that U.S. slaves had been forbidden from marrying and were often sold at auction and separated from their family members.
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Saturday, Bachmann spokeswoman Alice Stewart said that the Minnesota congresswoman had only endorsed the 14-point “candidate vow,” which did not include the slavery passage. However, the entire document was only four pages, including two pages of footnotes, and the slavery section was the first bullet point within the preamble.

Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli Proves He's and Idiot - and Embarrassment to Virginia

It's unclear whether Virginia's mentally unstable Attorney General was endeavoring to be funny or what, but his tweet about wanting to be one of Osama Bin Ladens 72 virgins was a lead balloon. Meanwhile, some of us find the thought of Kookinelli being Bin Laden's bitch rather entertaining. As I've noted before, there are those unproven rumors that Cooch has played for the LGBT team in the past.

Ken Cuccinelli versus the University of Virginia

The ongoing battle between Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a/k/a Cooch, a/k/a Ken Kookinelli, appears to be heating up. As readers may recall, Kookinelli is demanding that UVA turn over documentation on climate change and global warming that doesn't comport with Kookinelli's delusional views. The Washington Post in its May 13th editorial has encouraged UVA to fight back and now it appears the University may be about to do just that. As Rosalind Helderman at the Post is reporting, UVA has hired legal counsel to assist it in responding to Kookinelli's attempts to intimidate the university and researchers at other state affiliated colleges and universities. As a long time Virginia resident, from the beginning I have thought Kookinelli an idiot for taking on UVA. With its huge alumni base and influence throughout the state it is definitely a risky political move and one that will come back to bite Kookinelli sharply in the ass. First, some highlights from the Post's editorial:
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VIRGINIA ATTORNEY General Ken Cuccinelli II has decided to misuse state funds in his personal war against climate science. But that doesn't mean anyone else should cooperate.
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The University of Virginia has until next week to challenge the attorney general's demand that it turn over vast numbers of documents written by or relating to Michael Mann, one of the most famous American climate scientists, who worked at U-Va. from 1999 to 2005. The attorney general wants the university to hand over practically every document Mr. Mann touched during his years at U-Va., including correspondence between him and a long list of other prominent climate scientists.
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Mr. Cuccinelli, apparently, speculates that Mr. Mann defrauded taxpayers by obtaining research grants to study global temperatures. It's clear from his statements that the "Climategate" controversy -- in which hackers stole records of e-mails between climate researchers that global warming skeptics then distorted -- inspired his witch hunt. Is there any doubt that the attorney general is trying to restoke that row with a fresh batch of e-mails?
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In the process, he would deal grave harm to scientific inquiry throughout Virginia's public higher education system. Science progresses when researchers can propose ideas freely, differ in their methods and argue about the interpretations of their results. The commonwealth should nurture that process, not make scientists fear that they will be subject to investigation if a politician dislikes their conclusions.
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But it [UVA] must file a challenge. Moreover, Gov. Robert F. McDonnell should join the dozens of others -- including some of Mr. Mann's harshest critics -- in condemning Mr. Cuccinelli, lest he be implicated in this assault on reason.

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Kookinelli is a buffoon, but a very dangerous buffoon since he will not hesitate to misuse the power of his office to further his own delusional and warped views. He is untethered from reality and he views everything through a crazy and theocratic perspective. It is a huge embarrassment that he was elected to state wide office. I sincerely hope that he will find that he challenged the wrong foe in this fight. Here are highlights on UVA's engagement of legal counsel in this dispute:
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The University of Virginia has hired the big law firm Hogan Lovells to help the school evaluate its options in responding to a civil subpoena from the state attorney general seeking documents related to the work of a former professor. It's the strongest indication yet that the school is seriously considering fighting the subpoena in court, as various academic groups have urged.

"The University and its Board of Visitors believe it is important to respond to this [civil information demand]," said John O. Wynne, the Rector of the university, in his first statement on the issue. "Research universities must defend the privilege of academic freedom in the creation of new knowledge. Hogan Lovells will help us to explore the appropriate options for a response."
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Dealing with the legal issues is tricky for the university's own general counsel's office, because its members are formally employees of the attorney general's office. In the university's most lengthy statement to date on the issue, U.Va. president John T. Casteen III referred to a statement issued by the faculty senate criticizing Cuccinelli's Civil Investigative Demand as an attack on academic freedom.
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Personally, I continue to believe that a psychological assessment of Kookinelli would conclude that the man is NOT sane and hence ought to be removed from office. Meanwhile, Bob McDonnell should be forced to take a position on Kookinelli's misguided jihad against the university and academic freedom.

Caribou Barbie to Resign

Anyone who read this blog back during the presidential campaign last year knows that I am no fan of Sarah Palin - in my opinion she is a deranged nutcase - and still cannot fathom why McCain selected her for the VP slot other than to appease the Christianist base. Unfortunately, Palin is the poster girl - or pin up - for the far right base of the Republican Party that seems to live in some warped parallel universe from the rest of us where being in touch with objective reality is actively frowned upon. Personally, I hope it comes out that her resignation was due to some impending scandal - rumors are flying as to who really paid for the Palin home that Caribou Barbie's hubby says he and a few buddies built. The best thing that can happen to the GOP is that Palin goes down in flames and is exposed for the lunatic that her behavior suggests. Just last night, in fact, I said to the boyfriend as we sat behind a car with a McCain/Palin bumper sticker that I'd be embarrassed to have Palin's name in anyway associated with me. Maureen Dowd has a great column in the New York Times that looks at Palin's bizarre fantasy world:

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Sarah Palin showed on Friday that in one respect at least, she is qualified to be president. Caribou Barbie is one nutty puppy.

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Usually we don’t find that exquisite battiness in our leaders until they’ve been battered by sordid scandals like Watergate (Nixon), gnawing problems like Vietnam (L.B.J.), or scary threats like biological terrorism (Cheney).

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And so it was, Todd Purdum learned, as he traveled Alaska reporting on Palin for Vanity Fair, that the governor’s erratic and egoistic behavior has been a source of concern for people there.
“Several told me, independently of one another,” Purdum writes, “that they had consulted the definition of ‘narcissistic personality disorder’ in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — ‘a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy’ — and thought it fit her perfectly.”

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What looked like a secret wedding turned out to be a public unraveling as the G.O.P. implosion continued: Sarah wanted everyone to know that she’s not having fun and people are being mean to her and she doesn’t feel like finishing her first term as governor. She can hunt wolves from the air and field-dress a moose, but she fears being a lame duck? Some brickbats over her ethics and diva turns as John McCain’s running mate, and that dewy skin turns awfully thin.

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Maybe there’s another red Naughty Monkey high heel to drop — there’s often a hidden twist in Sarah’s country-music melodramas. Or is this a reckless high-speed escape from small-pond Alaska, where her popularity is dropping, to the big time Below?

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The maverick must run free when greener pastures beckon. The musher must jump out of the dogsled when warmer climes call. As Palin’s spokeswoman, Meg Stapleton, says, “The world is literally her oyster.” But just remember, beloved Alaska, it’s all about you.

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The only greener pasture that Palin needs to run to is in my view a psych ward.

Blacks, Gay Men, Lesbians, Have Fewer Mental Disorders than Whites

Perhaps this story (http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/black-gay-men-lesbians-have-fewer-mental-disorders-whites-14375.html) explains why the Christianist are so crazy!! After all, they are generally white and, if Southern Baptists overweight (see one of my earlier posts which cited an study that Southern Baptists were the most obese denomination). I am sure this study will not deter Daddy Dobson, Tony Perkins, et al from continuing to depict gays as mentally disturbed psychos. Here are some highlights:

According to a study conducted at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health among lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations, blacks and Latinos do not have more mental disorders than whites. Based on the theory that stress related to prejudice would increase risk for mental disorders, researchers typically expect that black lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals face prejudice related to both racism and homophobia and therefore would have more disorders than their white counterparts. Contrary to this expectation, however, the Mailman School study found that black lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals had significantly fewer disorders than white individuals. Latinos had a prevalence of disorders similar to whites. The findings will be reported in the November 2007 American Journal of Public Health.

By contrast to the findings about mental disorders, more black and Latino gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals than whites reported a history of serious suicide attempts. “Because these suicide attempts occurred at an early age, typically during the teenage, we can speculate that they coincided with a coming-out period and were related to the social disapprobation afforded to lesbian, gay, and bisexual identities,” Dr. Meyer said. “If this is indeed the case, public health professionals should address what prevention efforts are required to reduce suicide risk among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths in these communities” Dr. Meyer said.

The study also found that, across all race/ethnic groups, younger cohorts of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (those in age groups 18 – 29 and 30 – 44 as compared with 45 – 59 years old) had lower prevalence of almost all mental disorders categories, and the difference was statistically significant for mood disorders. Younger cohorts also had fewer serious suicide attempts than did older cohorts (but this was statistically significant only for the middle cohort). “The finding regarding younger cohorts of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals is consistent with social stress theories that predicted that the liberalization of social attitudes toward homosexuality over the past few decades can lead to a decline in stress and related mental disorders and suicide among lesbians, gay men, and bisexual individuals” said Dr. Meyer.

A link to the Columbia University official study can be found here: http://www.mailmanschool.org/news/display.asp?id=572