We should identify issues of LGBT youths cautiously

As a counsellor with more than a decade of experience helping LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) youth too, I thank Mr Bryan Kwa for advocating support for them (“LGBT youth at higher risk of suicide, more support needed”; April 29).

I do find from experience that they face a higher risk of depression, leading to suicide ideation. Several times, I have intervened in crises by calling the ambulance, meeting the individual and even speaking to authority figures.

I must, however, caution against assuming that the solution is to push for the cause of all alternative sexual identities. For example, the assumptions that a youth’s sexual insecurity is immutable and affirming him with an alternative sexual identity will definitely help, and that an alternative lifestyle is the only and best option for LGBT individuals, can be challenged.

Many LGBT individuals have found options other than what Mr Kwa proposed, and they are living fulfilling lives. The root of our disagreement about how to help might lie in how we make sense of what the problem really is.

Counsellors are trained to analyse the root problem and, in general, while there could be different triggers, many LGBT individuals’ emotional difficulties seem to stem from insecurities they have about themselves.

The solution would then be to promote the acceptance of these sexual identities as mainstream, along with their accompanying lifestyles, to the point where society conforms to this perspective to ensure that all discrimination, or even negative opinions, ceases. This, however, turns the victim into the bully. Two wrongs do not make a right.

The other perspective is more conventional. It believes that if one’s self-identity is broken, in the way a person’s self-esteem is wounded, then the solution is to help restore the individual’s esteem in his identity.

This solution includes accepting the person wherever he is at, supporting him emotionally, protecting him in his environment but not victimising others in the process, and encouraging him when he is ready to take steps to restore his confidence in who he is.

It does not mean the goal is to change an individual’s sexual orientation. Rather, it agrees that there are fundamental social-emotional issues affecting individuals attracted to the same sex, which, if dealt with, would lower their incidence rate of suicide.