Grief: A Mental Health Crisis for LGBTQ People
26.05.2023 - 13:49
/ thegavoice.com
Journalists are taught to keep themselves out of the story. But when I was rushed to the hospital on May 12 with a possible heart attack, I became part of the story of a hidden mental health problem for LGBTQ people: grief.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. And while there has been some lip-service paid to that designation, there has been little national or community outreach about it. What little discourse there is has centered on the most common mental illnesses — depression and anxiety.
But how about grief and its impact on our psyches? What does it mean to be in a community constantly dealing with the grief of losses tied inextricably to our status as LGBTQ people coping with attacks on our personhood from legislators, the Republican party and sometimes, our own families? Hate crimes and the killings of trans and queer people often leave us with grief that is ongoing. In November there was a mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub, Club Q, in Colorado Springs during a drag event.
I didn’t have a heart attack. I had a heart “assault.” I was diagnosed with Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy, commonly referred to as Broken Heart Syndrome. Broken Heart Syndrome is a condition that can cause rapid and reversive heart muscle weakness. The main trigger for Broken Heart Syndrome is grief, but it can also be brought on by fear and extreme stress.
According to medical data, Broken Heart Syndrome occurs in about 2% of people who visit a provider for a suspected heart attack. Its symptoms mimic a heart attack. Treatments include heart medications, anti-anxiety drugs, stress management and cardiac rehab.
It wasn’t until I was talking with my cardiologist at the hospital that I realized it was the exact six-month anniversary of my wife’s
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