San Francisco Suicide Prevention 2011-08-03 17:00:00

According to the first large nationally representative survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 41% of transgender people in the U.S. have attempted suicide at some time in their lives. In addition, 25% of the more than 7,000 transgender people in the survey reported using substance abuse to cope with the discrimination their gender-nonconforming status caused. Transgender people face a very stressful social environment due to stigma, prejudice and discrimination that is “correlated with increased incidence of other mental health problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, and, in extreme cases, suicidal ideations), ” according to Seth Pardo, a doctoral candidate at the Cornell University Department of Human Development.