Suicide among LGBTQIA+ youth: A review of the treatment literature

Suicide is a serious public health problem among adolescent and young adults. Indeed, 12.1% of adolescents contemplate suicide, 4.0% make a plan, and 4.1% make an attempt (Nock et al., 2013). LGBTQIA+ youth (i.e., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning/queer, intersex and/or asexual adolescents and young adults) are particularly vulnerable to suicide (CDC, 2016; Liu & Mustanksi, 2012; Peters et al., 2019). While many LGBTQIA+ youth are healthy and resilient (Ream & Savin-Williams, 2005) they often report higher rates of both suicidal ideation and behavior than their heterosexual (Haas et al., 2011) and cisgender (James et al., 2016) peers. The purpose of this paper is to provide a structured review the state of suicide treatment research for LGBTQIA+ youth and offer recommendations for future directions.