Social Support Enhances Psychological Resilience Among LGBT Individuals Facing Discrimination
Social support is defined as "the perception and actuality that one is cared for, valued, esteemed, and loved by others." It can come from family members, friends, partners, acquaintances, co-workers, neighbors, and community organizations. Social support enhances psychological resilience among LGBT individuals facing discrimination by providing emotional validation, practical assistance, and social connection, which buffer against negative impacts of prejudice.
Social support provides emotional validation to LGBT individuals who face discrimination. This means being heard, understood, accepted, validated, respected, appreciated, and acknowledged for their feelings, thoughts, experiences, identities, and perspectives. Emotional validation helps build self-esteem, reduces anxiety and depression, improves well-being, and strengthens psychological resilience.
When someone tells an LGBT individual "You are valid" or "Your experience matters", it shows acceptance and empathy, which promotes positive mental health outcomes.
Social support offers practical assistance to LGBT individuals facing discrimination. This includes resources such as financial aid, housing help, job search assistance, legal advice, transportation services, medical referrals, and crisis counseling. Practical assistance reduces stress, burdens, and challenges associated with daily life and allows LGBT individuals to focus on healing, coping, and recovery.
When a community organization offers free meals to homeless LGBT youth, it eases the burden of finding food and ensures basic needs are met.
Social support provides social connection to LGBT individuals facing discrimination. This refers to interpersonal relationships, peer groups, communities, networks, and alliances that provide emotional support, shared experiences, common interests, mutual understanding, and a sense of belonging. Social connection enhances self-esteem, confidence, identity development, and social skills, which improves resilience against prejudice and discrimination.
When an LGBT individual joins a support group for queer people who have experienced trauma, they can find comfort in knowing they are not alone and develop new perspectives and strategies for coping with adversity.
Social support is crucial for enhancing psychological resilience among LGBT individuals facing discrimination. Emotional validation, practical assistance, and social connection provide a buffer against negative impacts of prejudice, promote positive mental health outcomes, and strengthen overall well-being. Therefore, families, friends, partners, colleagues, neighbors, and organizations should be aware of how their actions or inactions affect LGBT individuals' well-being and work towards creating inclusive spaces where everyone feels heard, valued, accepted, respected, appreciated, acknowledged, understood, validated, assisted, connected, safe, supported, and loved.
How does social support enhance psychological resilience among LGBT individuals facing discrimination?
LGBT individuals often experience significant forms of discrimination and stigma from their families, communities, workplaces, and society at large. This can lead to negative mental health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. Social support is crucial for helping LGBT individuals cope with these challenges and build psychological resilience. It involves both practical help (e. g. , providing financial assistance) and emotional support (e. g.