According to Study, Two-Thirds of Transgender Individuals Have Contemplated Suic

[SandraJane]

According to Study, Two-Thirds of Transgender Individuals Have Contemplated Suicide


August 31st, 2012 


http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/transgender-suicide-violence-discrimination-0831123

http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/epidemiology/diseaseprevention/documents/pdf/THISFINALREPORTVol1.pdf   Related publication


According to a recent study conducted by Rylan J. Testa of the Center for LGBTQ Evidence-based Applied Research in Palo Alto, California, two out of every three transgender individuals surveyed have contemplated suicide. To put that in perspective, suicide ideation rates range from 6% to 12% in the general population. Transgender (trans) individuals are more likely to be victims of physical violence and sexual assault than nontransgender peers. Many transgender people have experienced significant discrimination and prejudice. Research also has shown that transgender individuals are more likely to engage in negative coping strategies to deal with stressors; rates of drug and alcohol use and other potentially harmful behaviors are elevated among the transgender population.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

  APA PsycNET Direct



Effects of Violence on Transgender People.


By Testa, Rylan J.; Sciacca, Laura M.; Wang, Florence; Hendricks, Michael L.; Goldblum, Peter; Bradford, Judith; Bongar, Bruce
Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, Aug 13 , 2012, No Pagination Specified.


Retrieved from the Internet on September 2, 2012 by SJ


Abstract

While recent research on transgender populations has demonstrated high rates of experiencing violence, there has been little research attention to the mental health implications of these experiences. This study utilized data collected from the Virginia Transgender Health Initiative Survey (THIS) of transgender people (individuals who described their gender identity as different from their sex assigned at birth) collected from 2005–2006. Current study analyses were limited to two subgroups: trans women (n = 179) and trans men (n = 92). We hypothesized that, as in the general population, exposure to physical and sexual violence would be related to suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and substance abuse

[LivingInGrey]

* LivingInGrey stands with the 2/3

[Lauraitl]

Hopefully better than:

           6 feet of earth
(ROCK) ---> ME <--- (HARD PLACE)    You are NOT alone.

[Beth Andrea]

2/3rds = me, but not for TG reasons...

My various episodes have significantly decreased since being on HRT. I am, however, blessed with a 100% understanding workplace, customers, and peers. Friends are abounding--I had none before, now I have to schedule things in order to see everybody.

Life is good (for me) as a MTF transsexual.

I strongly suspect I am unusual in this, however.

[Arch]

How does the original study define "transgender," I wonder?

[jamied]

Suspect that it would be individuals who self-identified as transgender, but would be interesting to know.

Include me in the 2/3.

[Beverly]

It depends what "Contemplated Suicide" actually means. I would think that 100% of the population have done that at some point if it meant thinking that you just want to give up or you had had enough. OTOH if it means finding yourself in the middle of tying the noose before you say "No - I will not do this" then it is far, far more serious. The abstract just refers to 'suicide attempts and ideation'.

I am not saying it is not an issue, just that I cannot figure whether *I* fall in the 2/3rds

[Beth Andrea]

Ideations are a visualization of a suicide effort...for me, it was like a 15 second video clip, sometimes in the 1st person, sometimes in the 3rd...

*TRIGGER* (hit "quote" to read)

Sitting there, putting a gun to my temple/chin/chest, pulling the trigger, brains and blood splattering against the wall....putting a gun to my temple/chin/chest, pulling the trigger, brains and blood splattering against the wall...etc. (This would last for a few minutes to an hour+ )

The thoughts/visualizations would be very intrusive, I couldn't shut them off, and after awhile I would feel as if I were actually dying.

An "attempt" is just that...like you said, a noose around the neck, swallowing pills, gun in hand, finger on the edge of pulling the trigger, etc.

[Beverly]

People fantasize about all sorts of things - we are curious animals, but most fantasies stay just that - fantasies. I have wondered what it must feel like for people committing suicide, what those last few seconds must be like. I have even wondered if I would do it the way they would, but I have never found myself standing there with the rope in my hand or the pill bottle open or the blade against my skin.

So do I meet the survey's criteria? I think I might but even so if would not kill myself. I have too much to do and my personal belief is that it would be the ultimate selfish act - inflicting misery on those who know me and leaving my problems for them to clear up. I have seen what it does to others first hand when an uncle killed himself.

[jamied]

Twice I took pills and booze.  My spiral into such a deep depression amazes me now.  I was filled with such self loathing and hatred that I couldn't stand to live with myself. 

My angel of a wife Judy and a wonderful therapist is the only reason I'm here today.

[eli77]

An "attempt" is just that...like you said, a noose around the neck, swallowing pills, gun in hand, finger on the edge of pulling the trigger, etc.

No it isn't. An attempt is where you follow through. You take the pills, you kick the chair away, you pull the trigger, you jump off the bridge, you slit your wrists and you survive for whatever reason.

Not many people have a history of suicide attempts with a gun to the head. It tends to have a high success rate (97%). Pills, on the other hand, have a much lower success rate (49% illegal / 12% prescription / 6% non-prescription). Most histories of attempts tend to be pills due to the combination of high popularity with low success.

[Beth Andrea]

No it isn't. An attempt is where you follow through. You take the pills, you kick the chair away, you pull the trigger, you jump off the bridge, you slit your wrists and you survive for whatever reason.

Not many people have a history of suicide attempts with a gun to the head. It tends to have a high success rate (97%). Pills, on the other hand, have a much lower success rate (49% illegal / 12% prescription / 6% non-prescription). Most histories of attempts tend to be pills due to the combination of high popularity with low success.

Well then, they've got to find another category with guns...when I have a loaded pistol to my forehead and am pulling the trigger (slowly, to feel the "break"...marksmanship training still kicks in, even in that moment of despair), that's as close as one can get to an "attempt" without actually making mincemeat of the brain.

So, even if it's not an "attempt" in the strictest clinical sense, it is far more than "ideation."

[eli77]

They split into three categories a lot of the time: ideation, planning, and attempt. They also sometimes break it up by "severity." I.e. buying a gun and bullets and making a plan and getting to the point of putting the loaded gun to your head might rank more serious than a half-hearted attempt with a bottle of alcohol and a bottle of Tylenol.

But really... isn't it better that you didn't make an attempt? That makes you more healthy rather than less, right? I find it strange sometimes that we... want to protect our damage in this weird way. I don't know why that is. I feel that compulsion too. Maybe because we didn't get enough help at the time? Still reaching for recognition of past hurts? Bleh.

I'm really sorry you got to that point Beth. That place where you feel there is absolutely no other way out, where you just need to find some way, any way to stop hurting... I wish you hadn't had that experience. I wish none of us did. I'm really glad things are getting better for you now.

[Beth Andrea]

They split into three categories a lot of the time: ideation, planning, and attempt. They also sometimes break it up by "severity." I.e. buying a gun and bullets and making a plan and getting to the point of putting the loaded gun to your head might rank more serious than a half-hearted attempt with a bottle of alcohol and a bottle of Tylenol.

But really... isn't it better that you didn't make an attempt? That makes you more healthy rather than less, right? I find it strange sometimes that we... want to protect our damage in this weird way. I don't know why that is. I feel that compulsion too. Maybe because we didn't get enough help at the time? Still reaching for recognition of past hurts? Bleh.

I'm really sorry you got to that point Beth. That place where you feel there is absolutely no other way out, where you just need to find some way, any way to stop hurting... I wish you hadn't had that experience. I wish none of us did. I'm really glad things are getting better for you now.

The first several decades of my life, there was only damage. I know that mental/emotional trauma can cause actual scarring in the brain tissue, perhaps that is part of it.

You're right though, I should be able to "just let it go"...but it seems like I treasure the most difficult pains...perhaps because I survived them?

[eli77]

The first several decades of my life, there was only damage. I know that mental/emotional trauma can cause actual scarring in the brain tissue, perhaps that is part of it.

That stuff scares the hell out of me. I wonder sometimes if I'll ever really get past it, or if I'm just inevitably going to be some kind of damaged forever. They say prolonged severe depression / suicidal ideation can actually cause PTSD. Which kind of makes me want to throw up a bit. I has enough issues already.

You're right though, I should be able to "just let it go"...but it seems like I treasure the most difficult pains...perhaps because I survived them?

I think that's part of it. Like we want some acknowledgement that this is HARD, that it took effort and will to keep breathing through all that. But I'm not sure it's... entirely healthy? I mean I think that it's good to have that idea inside your own head. To be able to congratulate yourself on surviving, because it is tough and it helps with the self-esteem issues a bit. But the desire for outside recognition, that bothers me. Why do I want someone else to tell me it was bad? I know exactly how bad it was.

It makes me mistrust my instinct to talk about it now. Is that "I want to share this and get it out of me"? Or is that an impulse to glorify the damage? Because that can happen and that IS unhealthy. Because you end up not moving on.

Sorry, I'm blathering.

[Violet Bloom]

Before I realised my trans reality I was feeling extreme dispair because I didn't know why I felt so bad and alien and therefore had absolutely no idea how to help myself.  While I did have visions of suicide I don't think I ever would have seriously attempted it whether it be from lack of courage or the damage it would have done to my family, especially my mother.  I did however reach a point where I truly didn't care if when I went to sleep at night I never woke up the next morning.  Also if I had been badly injured in an accident I likely would not have fought for my life.  I don't know if these things count but I will say that I am incredibly lucky I wasn't prone to more-damaging behavior and that my brain never responded in an addictive manner to drugs or alcohol (they just amplified my anxiety dramatically and so were never very pleasurable).  I guess I'm simply too sensible and practical to ever end it all.

Right now I'm feeling a bit better because I have some hope for the future even though it will be quite challenging.  Very soon I will be attending my first support group meeting and it shouldn't be long after that I will be getting down to business with a new doctor and a therapist I'm on wait list for.  It remains to be seen how productive this entire endeavor will be and I'm not sure what state my mind will be in if it doesn't work out.