Chrysalis^® News

Gay lifestyle magazine Attitude has used its latest edition to highlight the mental health issues faced by an unusually high rate of gay men, according to The Guardian.

"It's a big taboo, we're expecting it to cause quite a stir," admitted Matthew Todd, editor of Attitude.

According to The Guardian, gay men are twice as likely to commit suicide. London's University College hospital found a "significantly higher" rate of mental illness among gay men than their peers.

As reported by Behavioural Health Central, Dominic Davies, director and founder of Pink Therapy, pointed out that until 1993, homosexuality wasn't taken off the list of psychiatric disorders. "The result of living as a stigmatised minority is that you self-medicate," explained Mr Davies.

The editor of the top-selling gay lifestyle magazine said that therapy helped him massively, and said that gay men should seek help such as a counselling course or therapy sessions. "The time has come to find the strength to face it and realise that, while it's not our fault, this has been inflicted on us, we do need to deal with it," he said.

"There is this cliché that we are all having a great time partying, but actually we know, and the research is now showing, there are a hell of a lot of unhappy gay people," said Mr Todd, who revealed that when he discovered he was gay, it sent him "free falling into shame". He added: "Not everyone who comes out of the closet is shouting hurray!" 

The lack of relationship education offered to young gay people, combined with them internalising any negative connotations with the word 'gay' is "a far bigger issue than something like HIV and greater health inequality," said Tim Franks from the charity Pace. He said that one in four young people attending his workshops have already attempted suicide.