Rutter Tara M, Flentje Annesa, Dilley James W, Barakat Suzanne, Liu Nancy H, Gross Margaret S, Muñoz Ricardo F, Leykin Yan
University of California, San Francisco, USA.
University of California, San Francisco, USA; San Francisco General Hospital, USA.
J Affect Disord. 2016 Dec;206:87-93. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2016.07.003. Epub 2016 Jul 15.
Prior research has found higher rates of mental health problems among sexual minority individuals. We examine treatment-seeking for depression, as well as its relationship with sexual orientation, in a large, multilingual, international sample.
Participants in an automated, quintilingual internet-based depression screening tool were screened for depression, and completed several background measures, including sexual orientation (with an option to decline to state) and past and current depression treatment seeking.
3695 participants screened positive for current or past depression and responded to the sexual orientation question. Those who declined to state their sexual orientation were far less likely to seek any treatment than individuals endorsing any orientation; they were especially unlikely to seek psychotherapy. Individuals identifying as bisexual sought both psychotherapy and alternative treatments at a higher rate than other groups. An interaction was observed between sexual orientation and gender, such that lesbian women were especially likely to have used psychotherapy. Other variables that emerged as significant predictors of treatment-seeking for depression included age and participant's language.
Limitations include possible misinterpretation of translated terms due to regional differences, and possible limits to generalizability due to this study being conducted on the internet.
Our results suggest that individuals who decline to state their sexual orientation may be more likely to forgo effective treatments for depression. Further studies of depression service utilization should focus on developing treatment modalities that could better engage sexual minority individuals, especially those who are reluctant to disclose their orientation.
先前的研究发现性少数群体中存在更高的心理健康问题发生率。我们在一个大型、多语言的国际样本中研究了抑郁症的治疗寻求情况及其与性取向的关系。
对一个基于互联网的自动化五语言抑郁症筛查工具的参与者进行抑郁症筛查，并完成几项背景测量，包括性取向（可选择不表明）以及过去和当前寻求抑郁症治疗的情况。
3695名参与者当前或过去的抑郁症筛查呈阳性，并回答了性取向问题。那些拒绝表明其性取向的人比表明任何性取向的人寻求任何治疗的可能性要小得多；他们尤其不太可能寻求心理治疗。自我认同为双性恋的人寻求心理治疗和替代治疗的比例高于其他群体。观察到性取向和性别之间存在交互作用，即女同性恋女性尤其可能使用过心理治疗。其他成为抑郁症治疗寻求显著预测因素的变量包括年龄和参与者的语言。
局限性包括由于地区差异可能对翻译术语产生误解，以及由于本研究在互联网上进行可能存在推广性的限制。
我们的结果表明，拒绝表明其性取向的人可能更有可能放弃有效的抑郁症治疗。对抑郁症服务利用的进一步研究应侧重于开发能够更好地吸引性少数群体个体，尤其是那些不愿透露其性取向的个体的治疗方式。
