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from Medical Issues
'Advocate' Magazine Describes
Drug-Related Depression In MSMs
July 16, 2007 - The Advocate magazine (January 30, 2007) described the problem with depression that MSMs (Men who have Sex with Men) have as it relates to the use of the drug Ecstasy.
According to the Advocate, "It has been widely reported that the incidence of depression among gay men is higher than in the overall U.S. population. One often-cited study report that more than 17% of American gay and bisexual men suffer from depression, compared with 9.5% of all adults." In addition, a survey of high school students in Massachusetts found that gay teens are about four times more likely to have attempted suicide in the last year than their counterparts.
Spencer Cox, founder of the Medius Institute at the Gay Men's Health in New York City has noted that most depression among gays comes from lacking a romantic partner, experiencing anti-gay violence, not identifying as gay or feeling alienated from the gay population. He says that MSMs also face multiple epidemics: depression, drug abuse, violence and HIV.
Tom Johnstone, an MSM who has used Ecstasy for years believes this drug is what may have caused his mental illness. "I think that taking the amount of Ecstasy I started taking at such a young age definitely has been a factor in my depression. When I'm not on Prozac, I'm suicidal. I've always felt there was a connection."
Jim Solz with the Pride Institute observes: "There are people who use drugs and alcohol because of a mood disorder, and there are people who have a mood disorder because they used drugs and alcohol."
The Advocate notes that long-term "or heavy use appears to change the brain's mood-controlling system permanently. A number of studies suggest that Ecstasy causes depression and anxiety that lasts far longer than any initial withdrawal would. This long-term depression is the result of Ecstasy damaging the brain's serotonin-producing neurons."
Dr. Neil Whitehead, a NARTH advisor, writing in Homosexuality and Mental Health Problems has surveyed a number of studies that indicate that MSM males suffer from higher rates of psychiatric problems than do heterosexuals. Whitehead, however, points out that even in countries where tolerance for homosexual behaviors is high, there were still differences in the mental health of homosexuals and heterosexuals.
According to Whitehead, "A strong case can be made that the male homosexual lifestyle itself, in its most extreme form, is mentally disturbed. ... Same-sex eroticism becomes for many, therefore, the central value of existence, and nothing else--not even life and health itself--is allowed to interfere with pursuit of this lifestyle. Homosexual promiscuity fuels the AIDS crisis in the West, but even that tragedy is not allowed to interfere with sexual freedom."
Whitehead continues: "Bluntly then, core gay behavior is both potentially fatal to others, and often suicidal. Surely it should be considered 'mentally disturbed' to risk losing one's life for sexual liberation. This is surely among the most extreme risks practiced by any significant fraction of society. I have not found a higher death accepted by any similar-sized population."
Additional Reading: Medical Issues.
Updated: 8 February 2008
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