homosexual suicide

The topic of suicide and its links to homosexuality have been, in the past, greatly based on myth and in studies, scarcely backed with data. Now with the increasing rate of suicide of young males in our western world this taboo topic must be accurately studied for prevention of further misfortune. C. van Heeringen wanted to estimate the risks of suicidal thoughts or actions in young homo/bisexuals compared to heterosexual peers. He also wanted to determine the effects of potential factors on the odds of suicidal thoughts and actions in young homo/bisexuals. Through his studies there were many findings that seem very substantial to every human’s knowledge. His results show that homo/bisexuals are at a greater risk of suicidal actions or feelings because they tend to feel trapped in their situation, which is how his separate heterosexual findings differ. Those groups are very similar in most ways because regardless of sexual orientation, low self-esteem, hopelessness, experiences of suicidal behavior in someone close, and most importantly depression can be associated with suicidal actions. Though Heeringen does state that the results could possibly be a slight underestimate due to group interactions within the study he finds it most probable that it is not biased by myths that motivated the results of other studies. To conclude he states that the data from this study could suggest that these details be taken into account during homo/bisexual treatment of depression, and that working against discrimination can help prevent all factors of suicidality. I was very interested in this article as soon as I started reading. It gave so much insight on the similarities and differences of homo/bisexuals and heterosexuals specific to psychological effects that bring about suicidal tendencies. . Reading this article contributed to new knowledge on my topic of homosexuality because in previous readings on the subject By the end of his writing I noticed the slight input of