Briana McGeough, assistant professor of social welfare at KU, led evaluation of tools contained in “LGBTQI Workbook for CBT” by Erik Schott, a text designed to help guide individuals through tools of cognitive behavioral therapy. The team of researchers recruited a sample of 17 LGBTQ individuals who have experienced anxiety and/or depression, worked through the book’s tools and evaluated their effectiveness.

“I’m interested in how mental health resources and treatments connect with people in alternate ways. That’s what led me to evaluating this workbook,” McGeough said. “It draws from evidence-based principles but had never been evaluated. It feels like potentially a good way to be helpful to LGBTQ folks struggling with mental health issues.”

Study participants took part in six sessions. They also took part in pre-assessment, post-assessment and post-session surveys, rating their satisfaction with the tools and their approaches on a zero to 4 scale. Their depression and anxiety symptoms were measured with PHQ-8 and GAD-7 tools, respectively.

“We saw statistically significant reductions in depression and anxiety symptoms,” McGeough said. “Given the size of the change, it was encouraging. In terms of satisfaction, people reported being very satisfied with the tools.”

Tools from the workbook largely focus on stresses that underrepresented populations face such as discrimination or internalized shame that can result in anxiety or depression. For example, one tool addresses situations such as being fired from a job for being LGBTQ. In addition to potentially utilizing legal protections, it may be helpful for mental health to manage emotions related to the situation, such as shame or worthlessness, with strategies like meditation, talking with a friend or considering companies in their profession that are more accepting of LGBTQ people. 

Source: https://news.ku.edu/news/article/research-finds-alternative-anxiety-depression-treatment-for-lgbtq-individuals-shows-results