Transgender Suicide Increases While The U.S. Fails to Educate the Public
According to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, the follow-up to the ‘08-09’ study conducted by the National Gay and Lesbian Task force and National Center for Transgender Equality, forty-one percent of respondents reported having attempted suicide in their lifetime. This is almost 9 times the attempted suicide rate in the U.S and 10–20 percent higher than lesbian, gay and bisexual adults who reported having attempted suicide.
Coming out and changing gender roles is often a difficult process with many dealing with changes in relationships (family, friends, co-workers) during their transition. Add on the social stigma many experience, ongoing civil rights struggles (North Carolina’s Bathroom bill and Trump’s rescinding transgender protections), and the fact that transgender people experience levels of discrimination, harassment and violence in virtually every aspect of their lives, it’s no wonder transgender people are finding it difficult to live.
Report findings again revealed high levels of mistreatment, harassment and violence in the home, the workplace and even health care centers.
- 1 out of 10 respondents who were out to their family reported being attacked by family member due to their gender identity
- 30% reported being fired, denied a promotion or experienced some other form of mistreatment (verbal harassment, physical attack and/or sexual assault) in the workplace
- 33% of those who sought out help from a health provider had at least one negative experience related to their being transgender including verbal harassment or refusal of treatment due to their gender identity
It’s imperative that those in health care continuously learn how to work with Transgender patients and take a serious interest in furthering their understanding of Transgender health issues.
- 23% reported fear of mistreatment as a reason for not seeking out health care
- 33% did not see a health care professional because they could not afford it
- 1.4% of all respondents were living with HIV. This is 5 times the rate in the U.S. population with the rate for Black transgender women at 19%
Walter Bockting, PhD, Professor of Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry and Nursing) at Columbia University is one of the world’s leading researchers on transgender health and part of the task force that created The Standards of Care published by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Dr. Bockting gives the following advice to health care professionals working with those who identify as transgender:
- Don’t assume you know what it means when someone identifies as transgender. The transgender experience is diverse. Not every patient takes hormones or undergoes genital surgery for example.
- Pay close attention to mental health issues when caring for this population. Many transgender patients experience changes in their relationships with families, friends, and coworkers during transition. Taking time to establish a trusting provider-patient relationship is critical.
- Providers also need to be aware of their patient’s sensitivity regarding their bodies. For example, a provider working with a transgender man who hasn’t had a pap smear in many years may need to build trust during several visits before the patient feels comfortable having an internal exam. Working with a transgender patient is like working with any other patient. You treat the whole person, both mind and body.
Addressing transgender suicide in the U.S. will take efforts by all: policy makers, organizations and business, law enforcement, health care agencies, etc. Educating ourselves is a great first and easy step.
The #MakeHealthPrimary Journal is a Dress A Med publication.
