Category: LGBQT+
Mark Hatzenbuehler, Ph.D.
John L Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
John Pachankis, Ph.D.
Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences)
Yale School of Public Health
New Haven, Connecticut
Joanne Davila, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, New York
Mark Hatzenbuehler, Ph.D.
John L Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
John Pachankis, Ph.D.
Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences)
Yale School of Public Health
New Haven, Connecticut
Zachary Soulliard, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Associate
Yale School of Public Health
New York City, New York
Skyler Jackson, Ph.D.
Associate Research Scientist
Yale School of Public Health
Brooklyn, New York
LGBTQ-affirmative CBT provides the mental health field with an evidence-based tool for addressing the substantial mental and behavioral health comorbidities that disproportionately affect sexual and gender minority populations relative to cisgender heterosexuals in the US and worldwide. In doing so, LGBTQ-affirmative CBT responds to the public health and social justice imperative of the mental health field by guiding mental health practitioners, trainers, students, and our clients to attend to the structural sources of disadvantage affecting members of this population, including those whose experiences lie at the intersections of other marginalized identities.
This symposium will highlight new empirical evidence that LGBTQ-affirmative CBT is (1) theoretically informed, (2) well-suited to addressing the co-occurring mental, behavioral, and sexual health challenges facing sexual minorities, (3) capable of being disseminated to LGBTQ-serving community settings nationwide, and (4) capable of being implemented in such settings to address the intersectional stressors of Black and Latino LGBTQ community members.
The first presentation will review the accumulating evidence in support of the psychological mediation framework upon which LGBTQ-affirmative CBT is based. This theoretical framework extends minority stress theory to identify the treatment-modifiable psychosocial mechanisms through which stigma compromises the mental health of sexual and gender minorities. Presenters will discuss data from the first population-based test of this framework. The second presentation will highlight data from the largest trial of LGBTQ-affirmative CBT conducted to date. Evidence from this two-site, three-arm trial with sexual minority young adult men suggests that this treatment is particularly well-suited to reducing comorbidity across the mental, behavioral, and sexual health outcomes that this population disproportionally experiences. The third presentation will review a US-wide randomized controlled trial that examines the efficacy of training in LGBTQ-affirmative CBT. This training was delivered to mental health providers at LGBTQ community centers in 20 US states to improve their capacity to deliver evidence-based care. Finally, presenters will discuss evidence from an open trial that supports the implementation of LGBTQ-affirmative CBT delivered in a group format to Black and Latino sexual minority men in a community clinic. This trial innovatively found support for facilitating coping against the intersectional stress affecting this multiply marginalized population.
The discussant will highlight ways in which the research presented during this symposium positions CBT-based approaches to theory, practice, training, and implementation as an important tool in the field’s social justice mission. The talks presented here suggest that the field of evidence-based mental health practice can play an important role in responding to the substantial population disparities affecting sexual and gender minorities.
Presenter: Mark Hatzenbuehler, Ph.D. – Harvard University
Co-author: Micah Lattanner, PhD – Harvard University
Presenter: John E. Pachankis, Ph.D. – Yale School of Public Health
Co-author: Audrey Harkness, Ph.D. – University of Miami
Co-author: Erin McConocha, MPH – University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Co-author: Roxanne Winston, MPH, MSN, RN – Columbia University
Co-author: Oluwaseyi Adeyinka, MD, MPH – New York University Grossman School of Medicine
Co-author: Kriti Behari, MA – Yale School of Public Health
Co-author: Timothy J. Sullivan, M.A. – Stony Brook University
Co-author: Denise Esserman, PhD – Yale University
Co-author: Kirsty A. Clark, Ph.D. – Vanderbilt University
Co-author: Richard Richard Bränström, PhD – Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Co-author: Mark Hatzenbuehler, Ph.D. – Harvard University
Co-author: Steven A. Safren, Ph.D., ABPP – University of Miami
Presenter: Zachary A. Soulliard, Ph.D. – Yale School of Public Health
Co-author: Skyler D. Jackson, Ph.D. – Yale School of Public Health
Co-author: Ilana Seager van Dyk, Ph.D. – Massey University
Co-author: Eric K. Layland, Ph.D. – Yale School of Public Health
Co-author: Kirsty A. Clark, Ph.D. – Vanderbilt University
Co-author: John E. Pachankis, Ph.D. – Yale School of Public Health
Presenter: Skyler D. Jackson, Ph.D. – Yale School of Public Health
Co-author: Krystn Wagner, MD, PhD – Augusta University
Co-author: Mike Yepes, MPH – Yale School of Public Health
Co-author: Tyler Harvey, MPH – Yale University
Co-author: Jackson Higginbottom, MPH – Yale University
Co-author: John E. Pachankis, Ph.D. – Yale School of Public Health