A report issued last Thursday by the University of California, Los Angeles’ BMC Psychiatry proved what we have known for a long time: gays, lesbians and bisexuals are twice as likely as heterosexuals to seek help for emotional, mental health, or substance abuse issues.

Consequently, the governor’s budget cuts will affect us twice as hard, especially because they eliminate programs that affect the GLBT community in particular and create waiting lists for remaining services.

According to the study’s senior author, Susan D. Cochran, Ph.D., more than 42,000 participants were interviewed in 2003, and significant portions of that group were re-interviewed for more than five months in late 2004 and early 2005.

2,074 adults 18-65 completed the interview. Among females, 816 identified as heterosexual and 255 identified as lesbian or bisexual; 709 males identified as heterosexual while 294 identified as gay or bisexual.

The group was 55.6 percent white, 29.8 percent Hispanic, 5.9 percent African American, 7.8 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, and less than one percent Native American. It reflects the population diversity of California.

Overall, 22.5 percent of heterosexuals but 48.5 percent of GLBs reported receiving treatment for a mental health or substance abuse issue within the past year. Females of all orientations were more likely than males (33.8 percent vs. 24.5 percent) to receive those services – reflecting the fact that women are more likely than men to seek health services on all issues.

Of those seeking care, only two percent received it through an in-patient program, 68 percent received a prescription drug as part of that care.

The difference between gay and straight was greatest among men; 42.5 percent of gay/bi men sought help compared with 17.1 percent of heterosexual males. For females it was 55.3 percent lesbian/bi and 27.1 percent heterosexual.

Other studies have shown that bisexuals are more likely than others to experience mental health issues, but this study did not contain a large enough group of bisexuals to conduct a meaningful analysis.

The study showed no significant differences between the groups based on employment, insurance coverage, education, level of social support, or marital/partner status.

Cochran admits it is not known why there is a higher rate of mental health service use among GLB individuals, even after adjusting for the prevalence of disorders. One possibility is that society’s view of homosexuality “conditions people to think that when they run into problems, mental health services are appropriate.”

“It may also be that they are using care to deal with some of the stresses in life from being gay, such as problems in dealing with their biological family,” she says.

Another possibility is that gays use professional services to resolve issues that heterosexuals may be able to work out through conversations with family members or clergy.

Cochran said, “If people are using mental health services to resolve issues that because of [homophobia], that is a cost not just to the individual; it is also a cost of discrimination to society.”

She believes the findings from this study are largely applicable across the United States, and are not simply a reflection of California .

Cochran said they are now trying to evaluate whether the care that GLB people receive is adequate to their problems.

In other words, while the study acknowledges that mental health services sought by GLBs vary significantly from individual to individual, the sheer numbers who seek them and the disparity among them are reason enough for concern.

As our resources in San Diego, such as the The Center, Family Health Centers, Stepping Stone, and more continue to feel the crunch, so will our community.

It’s a long-established fact that young GLBTQ individuals have a significantly higher rate of attempted suicide – among GLBTQ youth, the number is nearly 3.5 times that of their heterosexual partners.

For years, studies have shown that nearly a third of the GLBT community abuses drugs or alcohol, and they do so much later into life than their heterosexual counterparts.

It’s not that we want to sit around painting a dire picture of our community. We are a proud community of richly diverse and talented individuals. But we are also a community that is often in pain. And we rely on our local services to help us through it.

If Sacramento continues to take away the resources that provide support for those in our community who are in distress, we fear a domino effect will expnonentially increase already high numbers of GLBs who need mental health services.