Study: Homosexual Lifestyle Strongly Linked to Depression, Suicide

[Pro_Life_News]

By Kathleen GilbertLONDON, September 17, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A new study in the United Kingdom has revealed that homosexuals are about 50% more likely to suffer from depression and engage in substance abuse than the rest of the population, reports Health24.com.After analyzing 25 earlier…

Full article…

 

[rpp]

These findings strongly support the results of similar studies conducted in the United States, which have unveiled the severe physical and psychological health risks associated with homosexual behavior. Drs. Paul and Kirk Cameron of the Family Research Institute revealed in 2007 that research shows that the lifespan of a homosexual is on average 24 years shorter than that of a heterosexual. As a health threat, even smoking pales in comparison, as studies show smoking can shorten one’s life by only 1 to 7 years on average.

While the Health 24 article suggested that homosexuals may be pushed to substance abuse and suicide because of anti-homosexual cultural and family pressures, empirical tests have shown that there is no difference in homosexual health risk depending on the level of tolerance in a particular environment. Homosexuals in the United States and Denmark - the latter of which is acknowledged to be highly tolerant of homosexuality - both die on average in their early 50’s, or in their 40’s if AIDS is the cause of death. The average age for all residents in either country ranges from the mid-to-upper-70s. (See LifeSiteNews.com article lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/apr/07040309.html)

None of this should be a major surprise to anyone. After all, homosexuality is a mental disorder. And those who suffer from it have been betrayed by the medical community.

 

[Dale_M]

LifeSite is distorting the truth again. They ignore that the study couldn’t find a cause and that the researcher who did the study places the blame on lifelong stress, not the “homosexual lifestyle” (whatever that is).

However, none of this means that homosexuality is itself some type of disorder that gives rise to poorer mental health, stressed lead researcher Michael King, of University College London.

This study could not examine the reasons for the higher-than-expected rate of mental disorders and substance abuse. However, King told Reuters Health, it is likely that lifelong stress is involved.

Even in relatively liberal societies, he said, gay, lesbian and bisexual people face both overt and subtle discrimination. They may also have to deal with social exclusion and rejection by their own families.

health24.com/news/Depression/1-903,47941.asp

 

[Annn]

What is “the gay lifestyle”?

 

[rpp]

What is “the gay lifestyle”?

Willfully engaging in homosexual activity and/or publicly defending this disordered behavior and/or claiming it is somehow normal. These last two make it possible for heterosexuals to take part in the “gay lifestyle” without the messy problems of sodomy.

 

[rpp]

LifeSite is distorting the truth again. They ignore that the study couldn’t find a cause and that the researcher who did the study places the blame on lifelong stress, not the “homosexual lifestyle” (whatever that is).

health24.com/news/Depression/1-903,47941.asp

Of course they will not say it is a mental disorder. They say it is not yet are stupefied when homosexuals, as individuals and as a group, exhibit all the classical signs of a mental disorder. To their think, if it looks like duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it must be a glass of water.

 

[Mirdath]

Of course they will not say it is a mental disorder. They say it is not yet are stupefied when homosexuals, as individuals and as a group, exhibit all the classical signs of a mental disorder.

Maybe, just maybe, it has a teeny bit to do with how homosexuals are treated by much of the rest of society (I don’t see varying levels of ‘tolerance’ mattering much, as long as there’re actual bigots this will continue to be a problem)? As much as you or others may like to think otherwise, it’s hardly all free lunches and Hollywood weddings. Why wouldn’t anyone be depressed about the kind of treatment they’re likely as not to get, or turn to substance abuse to try to cope?

Correlation and causation are two completely different things!

 

[rpp]

Maybe, just maybe, it has a teeny bit to do with how homosexuals are treated by much of the rest of society (I don’t see varying levels of ‘tolerance’ mattering much, as long as there’re actual bigots this will continue to be a problem)? As much as you or others may like to think otherwise, it’s hardly all free lunches and Hollywood weddings. Why wouldn’t anyone be depressed about the kind of treatment they’re likely as not to get, or turn to substance abuse to try to cope?

Correlation and causation are two completely different things!

The article addressed this very point. I included the quote in my first post on this thread. I will repeat it.

While the Health 24 article suggested that homosexuals may be pushed to substance abuse and suicide because of anti-homosexual cultural and family pressures, empirical tests have shown that there is no difference in homosexual health risk depending on the level of tolerance in a particular environment. Homosexuals in the United States and Denmark - the latter of which is acknowledged to be highly tolerant of homosexuality - both die on average in their early 50’s, or in their 40’s if AIDS is the cause of death. The average age for all residents in either country ranges from the mid-to-upper-70s. (See LifeSiteNews.com article lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/apr/07040309.html)

 

[Janet_S]

RS Hogg, SA Strathdee, KJ Craib, MV O’Shaughnessy, JS Montaner, and MT Schechter
" Modelling the impact of HIV disease on mortality in gay and bisexual men"
Int. J. Epidemiol. 26: 657-661
ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/vol26/issue3/index.dtl

This is a study from Vancouver, covering the years 1987-1992. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of HIV on mortality in gay and bisexual men.

However, in the discussion at the end of this article, the authors point out that the high rate of suicide among homosexuals probably affected the results of their study.

The homosexual lifestyle is dangerous to your health in a variety of ways. There are no surprises here.

 

[GratefulDad]

Also this writing from Romans Ch1, it predicted a lot of what we are seeing today.

16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: for Jew first, and then Greek.
17
For in it is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous by faith will live.”
18
The wrath of God is indeed being revealed from heaven against every impiety and wickedness of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
19
For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them.
20
Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made. As a result, they have no excuse;
21
for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks. Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened.
22
While claiming to be wise, they became fools
23
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the likeness of an image of mortal man or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes.
24
Therefore, God handed them over to impurity through the lusts of their hearts for the mutual degradation of their bodies.
25
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and revered and worshiped the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26
Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions. Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural,
27
and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity.
28
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to their undiscerning mind to do what is improper.
29
They are filled with every form of wickedness, evil, greed, and malice; full of envy, murder, rivalry, treachery, and spite. They are gossips
30
and scandalmongers and they hate God. They are insolent, haughty, boastful, ingenious in their wickedness, and rebellious toward their parents.
31
They are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
32
Although they know the just decree of God that all who practice such things deserve death, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

 

[Janet_S]

Maybe, just maybe, it has a teeny bit to do with how homosexuals are treated by much of the rest of society (I don’t see varying levels of ‘tolerance’ mattering much, as long as there’re actual bigots this will continue to be a problem)? As much as you or others may like to think otherwise, it’s hardly all free lunches and Hollywood weddings. Why wouldn’t anyone be depressed about the kind of treatment they’re likely as not to get, or turn to substance abuse to try to cope?

Correlation and causation are two completely different things!

I know this is the PC version of what’s going on here, but I don’t agree. This argument isn’t any more convincing to me than the one that says laws against drug use and possession are causing problems for drug addicts.

There are certain problems inherent in abusing drugs just as there are certain problems inherent in being an active homosexual. Changing society won’t change that.

 

[Dale_M]

RS Hogg, SA Strathdee, KJ Craib, MV O’Shaughnessy, JS Montaner, and MT Schechter
" Modelling the impact of HIV disease on mortality in gay and bisexual men"
Int. J. Epidemiol. 26: 657-661
ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/vol26/issue3/index.dtl

This is a study from Vancouver, covering the years 1987-1992. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of HIV on mortality in gay and bisexual men.

However, in the discussion at the end of this article, the authors point out that the high rate of suicide among homosexuals probably affected the results of their study.

That study is ancient by HIV standards. Since 1994, treatment for HIV has become highly effective whereas before 1994 treatment options were limited and the prognosis for persons with HIV was poor. Being that death by AIDS was often gruesome, its no wonder suicide rates would have been elevated.

 

[Dale_M]

Annn:

What is “the gay lifestyle”?

Willfully engaging in homosexual activity and/or publicly defending this disordered behavior and/or claiming it is somehow normal. These last two make it possible for heterosexuals to take part in the “gay lifestyle” without the messy problems of sodomy.

Simply having sex constitutes an entire lifestyle? That seems an unusual definition, let alone your contention that defending homosexuality makes one a participant in such sex.

The article addressed this very point. I included the quote in my first post on this thread. I will repeat it.

While the Health 24 article suggested that homosexuals may be pushed to substance abuse and suicide because of anti-homosexual cultural and family pressures, empirical tests have shown that there is no difference in homosexual health risk depending on the level of tolerance in a particular environment. Homosexuals in the United States and Denmark - the latter of which is acknowledged to be highly tolerant of homosexuality - both die on average in their early 50’s, or in their 40’s if AIDS is the cause of death. The average age for all residents in either country ranges from the mid-to-upper-70s. (See LifeSiteNews.com article lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/apr/07040309.html

Good gravy, that makes comparisons to the notoriously flawed Cameron study based upon obituaries. The very premise of that study is unsupportable because it ignores the cultural divide of Gay Liberation (early 1970s). Persons who came of age before that time, or shortly after, are less likely to publicly identify as gay. After all, doing so brought social ostracism and possible legal actions against them. The has changed with the younger generations, although many are still in “the closet” (especially conservative, “pro-family” types).

In the case of the Denmark study, a similar phenomenom occurred. Most who took advantage of registering their partnerships were under the age of forty. This is the post- Gay Liberation generation.

Most gays who are 50 years or older aren’t publicly known as gays. So by focusing on the younger gays who were public, Cameron’s statistics exaggerates the death rate because his statistics ignore most of the gays who live past age 50!

Cameron, in both studies, introduced the same statistical bias. The guy must never learn from his mistakes.

Nor does LifeSite learn from their mistakes. They want to use the results in the study mentioned by Health24, but then they reject the researchers’ conclusions. Instead, they try to tack on Cameron’s nonsense from completely unrelated studies.

 

[Janet_S]

That study is ancient by HIV standards. Since 1994, treatment for HIV has become highly effective whereas before 1994 treatment options were limited and the prognosis for persons with HIV was poor. Being that death by AIDS was often gruesome, its no wonder suicide rates would have been elevated.

I’d be happy to review a newer study if you know of one. HIV was the focus of this study, but homosexual sex was risky even before HIV. Hepatitis was the big epidemic before then.

The study above concluded that men living in Vancouver in the early '90’s could expect to live 20 fewer years if they were active homosexuals. You can try to explain that away as irrelevant or insignificant now, but that’s an important bit of information if you happen to be one of those men. Also, explaining it away doesn’t change the fact that a lot of men died during those years and died as a direct result of their sexual practices.

But the reason I referenced this article was because of the issue of suicide. Did they commit suicide because they were afraid of dying from AIDS? Who knows. This issue wasn’t addressed in this article so it’s impossible to know for sure. I don’t think it’s wise to make things up.

But, if it can be shown objectively that gay sex is hazardous to your mental and physical health, don’t people have the right to know?

 

[Wirraway]

LifeSite is distorting the truth again. They ignore that the study couldn’t find a cause and that the researcher who did the study places the blame on lifelong stress, not the “homosexual lifestyle” (whatever that is).

health24.com/news/Depression/1-903,47941.asp

or, “While the Health 24 article suggested that homosexuals may be pushed to substance abuse and suicide because of anti-homosexual cultural and family pressure … .”

lifesite seems to take a very casual approach to accurate reporting, it recently misrepresented justice ginsburg’s comments regarding abortion.

it seems to be well rated here, but I’d certainly fact check anything it claimed.

 

[Dale_M]

The study above concluded that men living in Vancouver in the early '90’s could expect to live 20 fewer years if they were active homosexuals. You can try to explain that away as irrelevant or insignificant now, but that’s an important bit of information if you happen to be one of those men.

Yes, it might have been relevant 20 years ago, given the circumstances of the times. But times have changed and so have those circumstances. I don’t think the data or conclusions are relevant today.

But, if it can be shown objectively that gay sex is hazardous to your mental and physical health, don’t people have the right to know?

C’mon, the anti-gay organizations have an agenda which they are pushing. Any discussion needs to be balanced with the facts, not just a slanted presentation.

 

[wynnejj]

There are all kinds of discrimination. Woman have been discriminated for years, yet they live longer than men usually. African Americans have lived with discrimination for years. It would be interesting to see how they compare to the gay community. Where I do see a big difference in the way the gay community may have a deeper burden in discrimination is how their immediate family handles the situation. Discrimination by the family could cause severe depression exacerbated by substance abuse to avoid the emotional anguish of family non-acceptance. I am not saying that families should not disapprove of homosexual sex acts, but they should be very careful to still love the sinner and not the sin. If the Bible is your standard, then same sex is taboo by order of Almighty God as demonstrated in the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah - end of discussion.

 

[thomfra]

But, if it can be shown objectively that gay sex is hazardous to your mental and physical health, don’t people have the right to know?

Statistically it may well be… But it will not make fewer people gay.

The orginal research quoted is probably usefull for governments/organisations to put in place some support structures/measures. (i.e. to save lives, help people)

The way it has being used by this other group (and the OP I assume) is as warning to people “don’t be gay”, not only is it immoral but you’ll get depressed and die early!!!

This is what I find a little strange. I mean the RCC says it’s morally wrong. OK fine. Like it or lump it, this is the view of the church and nothing (probably) will change this. And yet these groups seem to find it necessary to scrape together/misquote bits and pieces of reseach in order to build some kind of “scientific argument”. As if that will suddenly turn all homosexuals (even those who aren’t catholic) away from gay sex. - It wont!!!

I see the same arguments against contraception. The church says its wrong. OK fine. That’s the stance they have…not likely to change anytime in the near (or distant) future.

But why oh why jump on the “condoms don’t work” band wagon? Why bother finding some dubious research to quote. Isn’t it enough for people to belive condoms are immoral, and just **leave the scientific debate to the scientists. **

 

[Mirdath]

The article addressed this very point. I included the quote in my first post on this thread. I will repeat it.

I addressed it too. The fact that some areas may be more accepting than others still doesn’t mean they are just as happy to have you around as if you were white, right, and uptight

Janet_S:

This argument isn’t any more convincing to me than the one that says laws against drug use and possession are causing problems for drug addicts.

You think they don’t? Our prisons are bursting at the seams with people who had a few milligrams of leaves, processed plants, or lab chemicals in their pockets. Addicts become afraid or reluctant to seek treatment for their real, actual problems stemming from drug use because those laws exist. Disease (everything from AIDS to limb necrosis) is spread from a lack of clean needles – which have been made harder to get by drug laws. The black market is unregulated, leading to overdoses and mistreatment for consumers and violence for everyone – because drug laws make it impossible for the market to be brought to heel. Poor, crime-ridden neighborhoods remain poor and crime-ridden because dealing’s the only halfway decent business in the area and drug laws have ensured that Skid Row capitalism is as completely cut off from Wall Street capitalism as can be. And to end on a somewhat lighter note, you can’t buy enough Sudafed to get a large family through a week of ragweed season because of drug laws.

Go on, tell me again how draconian anti-drug legislation isn’t hurting anyone?

There are certain problems inherent in abusing drugs just as there are certain problems inherent in being an active homosexual. Changing society won’t change that.

There are ‘certain problems’ inherent just in living. It doesn’t mean we have to add to them.

 

[Janet_S]

Statistically it may well be… But it will not make fewer people gay.

The orginal research quoted is probably usefull for governments/organisations to put in place some support structures/measures. (i.e. to save lives, help people)

The way it has being used by this other group (and the OP I assume) is as warning to people “don’t be gay”, not only is it immoral but you’ll get depressed and die early!!!

This is what I find a little strange. I mean the RCC says it’s morally wrong. OK fine. Like it or lump it, this is the view of the church and nothing (probably) will change this. And yet these groups seem to find it necessary to scrape together/misquote bits and pieces of reseach in order to build some kind of “scientific argument”. As if that will suddenly turn all homosexuals (even those who aren’t catholic) away from gay sex. - It wont!!!

I see the same arguments against contraception. The church says its wrong. OK fine. That’s the stance they have…not likely to change anytime in the near (or distant) future.

But why oh why jump on the “condoms don’t work” band wagon? Why bother finding some dubious research to quote. Isn’t it enough for people to belive condoms are immoral, and just **leave the scientific debate to the scientists. **

No one knows what makes a personal “gay” anyway nor is there an objective way of determining who is “gay.”. Knowing the risks of engaging in homosexual activity may deter people. In any case, people have the right to know. Just because the evidence contradicts your worldview doesn’t automatically make it dubious. Neither you nor Dale have mentioned any studies that support the notion that the gay lifestyle is a healthy and happy one, so why pretend that scientific debate has anything to do with it.

The Church’s teachings are based not only on revelation but also on reason. If you read what the Church says about contraception and homosexuality you will find its arguments are based heavily on the natural law. So it’s appropriate to consult epidemiologists or social scientists or other specialists when the Church is making its argument. Faith and reason go hand in hand, so it’s not surprising to find that an immoral/unnatural activity has negative health consequences.

Leave the scientific debate to the scientists yes. But don’t suppress the evidence when it doesn’t go along with your political goals-- which is usually the case regarding homosexuality.