Tom Kent

Sexual orientation differences in treatment expectation, alliance, and outcome among patients at risk for suicide in a public psychiatric hospital - BMC Psychiatry Background Sexual minority (SM) individuals (gay, lesbian, bisexual, or otherwise nonheterosexual) are at increased risk for mental disorders and suicide and adequate mental healthcare may be life-sav...

This is the 2017 study
bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
Another study we did using data from a German clinic
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
After the many rejections of both manuscripts, which I did not experience before, I decided to move away from LGB-related research.

But our study, and international studies, suggest (good) psychotherapy may buffer these types of external stresses and help narrow disparities in clinical outcomes.

There’s likely regional variation in environmental stigma and community support — so it’s a natural hypothesis that these factors affect outcomes.

We really need updated national analyses to see whether those estimates have shifted — especially given improvements in data collection and social attitudes over time.

For gay men, national evidence already points to broadly equivalent outcomes. The real unknowns are bisexual people and lesbian women: an older national IAPT study suggested poorer results, but it had missing data and is nearly a decade old.

At the end of the paper, I suggest that rural areas or regions with smaller LGB populations would be a valuable focus for future research — to explore how local social and structural factors may shape therapy outcomes.

Thanks for the repost, André — and great question! Because our data come from urban London services, I’m careful not to overgeneralise.

UK study: LGB patients benefit as well from psychotherapy as heterosexual pts.
We did a similar study in 2017, it was very hard to get it published, maybe bc results didn't fit the narrative. Don't get me wrong, homophobia is real, also in healthcare. We need to get rid of biases in research, too

@thementalelf.bsky.social Would really appreciate a RT to help the findings reach a broader audience if possible. Thank you!

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🙏 Huge thanks to my brilliant co-authors at @uclpals.bsky.social & @uclpsychiatry.bsky.social
Thanks also to the NHS Talking Therapies patients whose care journeys made this study possible, the clinicians who provided that care, & the LGB service users & therapists we consulted.

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🗣️ We consulted LGB service users and therapists to help interpret the findings.
They spoke of openness toward therapy and strong motivation to engage.
Many saw it as a rare space to feel safe, understood, and supported — which may help explain these outcomes, despite high distress levels.

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📊 Bisexual men were less likely to drop out than heterosexual men (26.6% vs 29.7%).
Bisexual women also dropped out less often than heterosexual women (24.2% vs 26.8%).
Lesbian and bisexual women attended more sessions — but the difference was negligible (≈1 extra per 100 patients).

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📈 Gay men showed slightly greater reductions in depression and anxiety symptoms.
These differences are unlikely to be noticeable for most individuals — but at group level, recovery was higher (54.0% vs 47.5%) and dropout lower (25.5% vs 29.7%) than for heterosexual men.

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🔍 Want more detail? Here’s how outcomes varied slightly between LGB subgroups.
These differences were small overall — but worth unpacking.

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✅ The good news? LGB patients did just as well.
They improved at similar rates, were just as likely to recover, and just as likely to stay in therapy as heterosexual patients.

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🧠 We analysed 94,239 patients in NHS Talking Therapies across North and East London who disclosed their sexual orientation.
7,422 identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB).
We compared their therapy outcomes and engagement to heterosexual patients.

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🏳️‍🌈 LGB people experience higher rates of depression & anxiety — but do they have similar outcomes in therapy?
Previous research raised concerns about poorer outcomes for bisexual men and women, and for lesbian women.
We re-examined this using a larger and more recent dataset from London services.

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📢 Pleased to share that our new paper is now published in Psychological Medicine!
We looked at therapy outcomes for LGB patients compared to heterosexual patients in NHS Talking Therapies.
Here’s a short thread on what we found 👇
🔗 doi.org/10.1017/S003...

"His Gift Saved the Study" Yale Donor Gives LGBTQ+ Research a Lifeline Read more in our latest issue of Science & Society. Photo of John Pachankis speaking.

Prof. John Pachankis directs one of the world’s leading academic centers on LGBTQ+ mental health research.

In March, the initiative lost all eight of its federal NIH grants and contracts totaling about $5 million.

Pachankis reached out to Jamie Marks. Marks' gift saved the study: m.yale.edu/c7t9

One of Paul Flowers’ concluding points in his keynote was the importance of supporting the next generation of qualitative researchers. I think mentorship from more experienced researchers is very advantageous—not only for early career success in academia, but also for achieving impact #qmip2025

In his keynote, Paul Flowers highlighted the use of logic models—within qualitative intervention development—as a key tool for building team consensus, supporting theorising, and shaping commissioning briefs. #qmip2025

Michael Larkin also discusses AI in qualitative analysis. Similar to Virginia Braun’s points, "we" are the instrument of analysis. AI simply identifies topics that are spoken about; it is not performing analysis, and we need to resist the idea that AI is doing an analysis #qmip2025

Concluding that the question is more about whether we should use it than whether we can use it.

This is paraphrased and not run through AI, so it is my own interpretation of Virginia Braun's keynote speech at #qmip2025 conference ;)

Braun says no (yeah nah) to AI. That coding and analysis is a human endeavour. Coding should not be thought of as a laborious task that needs to be completed quickly and “free from bias”, but rather as a worthwhile, enjoyable, and creative experience, where we are the interpreters #qmip2025

Taking the initiative: improving LGBT+ mental health through science Nature Mental Health - Taking the initiative: improving LGBT+ mental health through science

"LGBT+ people have a reputation for doing remarkable things against huge odds, with little broad support, and I see that possibility in my students and trainees today." - Prof. John Pachankis

www.nature.com/artic...

A poster for a LGBQ research study

🌈 Supervising a study on avoided topics in therapy for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) individuals.
💬 When developing the study idea, LGBQ participants told us: “what was left unsaid mattered most.”
🔁 Please repost to support this research.

A moment that changed me: I went to read to a blind man - and discovered his hidden gay heroism As a 21-year-old student, I embarked on one of the most intimate experiences I have ever shared with another person. The friendship was an insight into the underground that existed when homosexuality ...

A moment that changed me: I went to read to a blind man - and discovered his hidden gay heroism www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Mental Disorders in Adults This unified series of meta-analyses examines the effect sizes of cognitive behavior therapy for many mental and eating disorders on symptoms of the respective disorders using uniform methodologies fo...

The evidence supports CBT as a first-line treatment for many mental disorders, although the quality of the evidence is limited. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Job losses across UK higher education continue to rise - Research Professional News More redundancies announced or expected at Dundee, Bournemouth, Royal Holloway, Canterbury Christ Church and Sheffield

Job losses across UK higher education continue to rise www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...