Asexuality and mental health

[gHuddo]

Please only answer if ace (or on the spectrum)

[Claire1983]

I feel my sexuality impacts my mental health in the sense that not knowing about asexuality for so long caused me to attribute my relationship issues to my mental health issues an believe that they were causing more problems that was actually the case.

[NickyTannock]

@FireAddWater These were my answers and my reasoning;

 

1. Do you suffer from a form of mental illness?

No, never have

 

I have my issues, but I don't believe they're caused by a mental illness.

 

 

2. Have/did you get clinically diagnosed?

I have never suffered from a mental illness

 

The only clinical diagnosis I've had is for Aspergers, which I don't believe is a mental illness.

 

 

3. What do you feel the relationship between your mental health and sexuality is?

I don't believe there is a connection

 

I believe there is a relationship between mental health problems and nonacceptance of nonheterosexuals, but that's as far as it goes.

 

 

4. Do you believe asexuals are more susceptible to mental illness (especially anxiety and depression)

Definitely not

 

I believe the perception and nonacceptance of Asexuals cause us more problems, not our Asexuality.

 

 

5. Have you ever described yourself as 'broken' because of your sexuality?

No, never have

 

I view societies perception of me as broken, so I don't see myself as broken.

 

 

6. How often have you heard other aces describe themselves this way

Sometimes

 

I have heard other Asexuals describe how they felt broken, but they also say this is before they knew about Asexuality or because of what society tells them.

 

 

7. Why do you believe 'broken' is used often to describe asexuality?

Lack of representation in media

Term never used in school sex education

Term rarely used in society

Sex driven society

Peer pressure

 

Sexual attraction is often said to be an intrinsic part of being human, so people have internalised that belief.

Because of this, their first instinct when hearing about Asexuality is to assume that we are either broken or lying.

That's what I think anyway.

[RoseGoesToYale]

I was diagnosed with clinical depression long before I knew I was ace, so I'd say for certain they aren't related. For question 4, I would say unsure. If there are higher rates of mental illness among asexuals, there could be a number of social reasons behind it. I would need to see a definitive correlation, though. I've never personally used the term "broken" since I never thought of someone not wanting sex as out of the ordinary. I think it's prevalent because of the way the medical community and media frame sex as an absolute in the human condition, including how sex is framed as a near constant and pervasive occurrence, especially in dramas, when in real life sex might be just another part of life, for some people more than others, not the center of the universe. 

[Puck]

All in the LGBTQ+ community tend to be a bit more susceptible to mental illness than cis straight individuals, but it is not because of their sexuality/gender so much as the stress, anxiety, depression and so forth that comes from others treatment of them. i.e. If you are ace but your peer group informs you that doesn’t exist, you may we’ll suffer trauma from that.

 

I believe some of AVENs Board of Directors in the UK are currently trying to learn more about how to better support asexual mental health, actually.

[Claire1983]

11 minutes ago, Puck said:

All in the LGBTQ+ community tend to be a bit more susceptible to mental illness than cis straight individuals, but it is not because of their sexuality/gender so much as the stress, anxiety, depression and so forth that comes from others treatment of them. i.e. If you are ace but your peer group informs you that doesn’t exist, you may we’ll suffer trauma from that.

 

I believe some of AVENs Board of Directors in the UK are currently trying to learn more about how to better support asexual mental health, actually.

I have to wonder if it's not so much that we're more susceptible, but that we're more aware of it.  Since LGBTQ+ people often go through a period of self reflection, it might just be that we are more comfortable admitting to ourselves that something's not right.  I'm not sure how you'd study that since mental illness numbers are largely reliant on self reporting, but I'd be curious.

[Yep, me]

I used to have PTSD, but I defeated it by shear force, ie, constantly telling myself it wasn’t real and why, and trying to make my brain realize it didn’t exist, every, single, night, constantly. It gradually disappeared, but I am still impacted by the event(s).

[Karret]

I said I have an undiagnosed mental illness, but I believe it's ADHD, and completely unrelated to being ace. 

I don't know if aces are more susceptible or not. Seems likely, but what are the rates of other types of folks?

Never felt broken, in fact, before I found out about asexuality, I felt everyone else went haywire because of those pesky 'teenage hormones' and I thought I was just fine, and everyone else would just chill out once they reached their 20s.

I have heard lots of others say they felt broken, though. 

My guess is that they were mostly susceptible to peer pressure. "Everyone else want to do it, why don't I?" Type shit. Possibly also doubly whammied with tv and movies and shit having sex and romance everywhere. Guess I just got immunized to that type of shit at an early age. XDa

[J. van Deijck]

1. Do you suffer from a form of mental illness?
Yes. Bipolar I, generalised anxiety, OCD and derealisation-depersonalisation syndrome still hits me occasionally.
2. Have/did you get clinically diagnosed?
Yes. At the age of 19.
3. What do you feel the relationship between your mental health and sexuality is?
None. I don't think it relates in any way, but I know there's a connection between bipolar disorder and sex drive. And I don't like it.
4. Do you believe asexuals are more susceptible to mental illness (especially anxiety and depression)
I'm not sure.
5. Have you ever described yourself as 'broken' because of your sexuality?
Not really, but I used to wonder if there's something wrong with me maybe when I heard about my peers getting in relationships and having sex. I wasn't even interested.
6. How often have you heard other aces describe themselves this way?
There were some cases.
7. Why do you believe 'broken' is used often to describe asexuality?
Sex driven society, I guess. Being sexual is something we can't really relate to

[anzu2snow]

Yes, I do. Multiple ones: PTSD, Bipolar 2, used to be suicidal, anxiety, OCD tendencies, and from sexual abuse. (Can't remember if there are more...) All of them have been officially diagnosed. Might be affected by having a chronic disease, colitis, too.

 

Looking at just my mental illnesses and being aro ace, no there's no connection. However, how society has viewed being aro ace, maybe. I think I also have gender dysphoria (I'm agender), and some of it might actually be symptoms of that instead. Might have been misdiagnosed because of it. Also, I think being aro ace made me have a different perspective when it came to sexual abuse. Might have affected it that way. I'm not sure if we're more susceptible. 

 

I've never used the word 'broken', but I've felt alienated and weird because of it. Still not good. I've heard many aces use the word 'broken' that way. It's pretty much because of lack of representation, not being talked about, talked about wrongly and negatively when it does come up, sex driven society, peer pressure, and media's emphasis on promoting romantic and sexual relationship (heteronormative specifically). It'd help if it were brought up and in a positive way in sex ed. 

[MollyDMA]

This world looks down one those who don't like sex or anything related by shoving it in our faces again and again. Even those who don't have sex because of religious purposes are put above aces in a way because they are not denying the enjoyment or 'ability' of sex but more of putting their religious practices ahead of sex. 

[Pramana]

There is a limited amount of research suggesting that sometimes certain mental health issues might cause sexual disinterest which then leads people to self-identify as asexual.

[iff]

@FireAddWater

 

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