September is the month where we spread awareness and celebrate and acknowledge the bisexual community, the history of bisexuality, and relationships! More specifically, Bisexual Awareness week is the 16-23 of September, and we can take the time to celebrate bisexual identity but also inform ourselves about Bisexual mental health. “Bisexual people have consistently been found to have poorer mental health than their gay and lesbian counterparts.” Statistics by Australian Family Physician. Luckily, March is Bisexual Health Awareness Month which is a huge help in spreading awareness on this topic. Below will be statistics on Bisexual health, how to spread awareness, and where to get help.
Bisexual Mental Health Statistics
People whose sexual orientation is Bisexual can encounter prejudice; whether that’s from society or, sadly, in their very home, this can result in poor mental health like anxiety, depression, and so forth. Due to statistics by American Psychiatric Association, the number of days depressed is 11 rather than Gay, Lesbian, or Heterosexual, which are seven and nine. The number of days of anxiety is six, still more than their Gay, Lesbian, and Heterosexual counterparts. The American Psychiatric Association also determines that lifetime rates of mood/anxiety disorders are higher among bisexual-identified women, more specifically, 58.7 percent for mood disorders, 57.8 percent for anxiety disorders compared with lesbians who are 44.4 percent for mood disorders, 40.8 percent for anxiety disorders, and heterosexual women 30.5% for mood disorders, 31.3 percent for anxiety disorders.
“Bisexual people have consistently been found to have poorer mental health than their gay and lesbian counterparts.”
Discrimination and Prejudice
Individuals at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, conducted a study with 445 bisexual individuals to respond to a questionnaire about past experiences with identity denial and concluded that “bisexual individuals who experience identity denial are more likely to believe that society endorses negative stereotypes about them, such as the belief that bisexuality is not a real sexual orientation and that bisexuals are heterosexual, gay or lesbian.” This contributes significantly to the importance of coming out and due to data from Pew Research Center, bisexuals are less likely than gay men and lesbians to say that their sexual orientation is an essential part of who they are. Only 20 percent of bisexuals say being bisexual is extremely important to their overall identity, and 53 percent say it is not at all important.
In a study by MAP on employment discrimination experiences of bisexual people, “Nearly two-thirds of respondents reported experiencing some form of harassment or discrimination at work, including being fired, being sexually harassed, or hearing biphobic jokes at work.” They also found that “The Pew Research Center discovered that only 11 percent of bisexual respondents reported their closest co-workers know that they are bisexual, while half of gay men and lesbians say that their co-workers know their sexual orientation.”
Suicidal rates
The rates for suicide are high in bisexual individuals and higher than gay, lesbian, and heterosexuals by 3 percent and 5.1 percent. American Psychiatric Association explains that considered attempting suicide is 7.4 percent for bisexuals while gay and lesbian is 4.4 percent and for heterosexuals is 2.3 percent. They further explain by saying that Bisexual women report worse mental health and suicidality than lesbians and heterosexual women. “In comparison with heterosexual and lesbian women, bisexual women are more likely to report feeling overwhelmingly anxiety, exhaustion, and hopelessness. Furthermore, they are almost 21 times more likely to have considered prior-year suicide than heterosexual women.” National LGBTQ Task Force states that 45%of bisexual women thought about or attempted suicide. In contrast, bisexual men are 35 percent, lesbians 30 percent, gay men 25 percent, and considerably lower rates for heterosexual women and men.
Eating Disorders and other Unhealthy substances
National LGBTQ Task Force indicated bisexual women are twice as likely to have an eating disorder than lesbians. Bisexual women report the highest alcohol use, heavy drinking, and alcohol-related problems compared to heterosexual and lesbian women. Bisexual men and women report the highest rates of smoking of all orientations. Bisexual women are more than twice as likely to have an eating disorder compared with lesbians Due to the American Psychiatric Association, which also has numerous amounts of data on unhealthy substances being consumed by bisexual individuals and how they can affect their mental health. They found that the prevalence of problem drinking patterns is 31.2 percent and 30.5 percent of illicit substance use among bisexual individuals. In a 2016 study, bisexual-identified women were found more vulnerable to heavy drinking, alcohol consumption, marijuana use, and other drugs compared to lesbians and heterosexual women.
How to spread the Awareness
Bisexual Mental health is a topic that is not talked about as much, even though bisexual individuals are deemed as the largest segment of the LGBTQ+ community. To help spread awareness, you can do the following:
- Educate yourself more on this topic by reading articles, books, and other resources that provide that information.
- Go to events that could be hosted in your area during Bisexual Health Awareness Month in March!
- Post hashtags in different social media platforms like: #BiMentalHealth #BisexualMentalHealthAwareness #BiMentalHealthIsImportant2 and more! Bi Social Network uses #IamVisible #BiProjectBSN #BiSocialNetwork
- Share what you learned on social media and provide links to resources that have the information.
- Mention this topic to friends or family interested or unaware of the topic!
Where to Find Help
From the information, data, and statistics that you are now familiar with, you are aware that many bisexual individuals face discrimination and deal with mental health problems. With this, if you or someone you know someone whose sexual orientation is bisexual and is dealing with mental health problems, you can help by taking the time to listen, share any advice that might help, give comfort and create a safe space, or send links to therapy or helplines like some below:
- Reach out to our helpline for 1:1 Peer Support. We have Peer Chat Sessions for one, four, and eight weeks via our helpline, but you can also register for one session when needed.
- View our outside Mental Health Providers
- Nami.org
- U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
- https://www.cdc.gov/lgbthealth/health-services.htm
- BetterHelp (Get 1-Month Free on us)
- Trevor Project
- Bisexual Queer Alliance Chicago
- Outcare Health
Note: If you are having an emergency, please call 911 or have thoughts of suicide; reach out to 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
