Mental health and Asexuality

[NomadQ]

Is there a connection between mental/psychological disorders and Asexuality?

[blunose2772]

I have clinical depression and I'm an Asexual but the two don't seem to be related

[Norellia]

If you mean connection as in mental disorder causes asexuality then no I would disagree completely. However, if you are referring to asexuality is connected to higher rates of certain mental disorders then I might agree. Again I do no think that a mental disorder causes asexuality, but being asexual makes you more likely to have things like anxiety and depression like most minority sexual groups. 

[Lichley]

You might want to specify which of the two you mean - Asexuality as a mental disorder or Asexuality making you more likely to develop mental disorders.

[Ceebs]

A connection between being asexual and having a mental illness? No. A connection between thinking you may be asexual when in actuality you aren't, but your lack of interest in sex is at least in part due to a mental health condition? Absolutely.

[Telecaster68]

40 minutes ago, CBC said:

A connection between being asexual and having a mental illness? No. A connection between thinking you may be asexual when in actuality you aren't, but your lack of interest in sex is at least in part due to a mental health condition? Absolutely.

... and the nature of many mental illnesses is that you don't realise the effect they have till you start to recover. Most childhood trauma victims go through a long phase of denial, for example, and it can be hard to spot you're depressed.

[James121]

1 hour ago, NomadQ said:

Is there a connection between mental/psychological disorders and Asexuality?

In my opinion....yes

[Ceebs]

25 minutes ago, Telecaster68 said:

... and the nature of many mental illnesses is that you don't realise the effect they have till you start to recover. Most childhood trauma victims go through a long phase of denial, for example, and it can be hard to spot you're depressed.

Yep. Mental illness makes you see things with blinders on. It changes your perception of yourself, other people, the world around you, how life works, etc. It's often impossible to know yourself well with those blinders on. My own mental health issues began very young, and as a result I don't think I ever knew much about myself before; there almost is no significant "before". I'm still in the infancy stage of making changes, despite being in my early/mid 30s, and I've discovered a few things, but nowhere near all of what there is to learn. I think it would be very difficult for anyone who'd struggled with significant mental illness, since before their sexuality really had a chance to develop much, to know if they were asexual or not.

[Ceebs]

Also, one of the most mentally healthy and well-balanced people I've ever known is also the most seemingly innately asexual individuals I've ever known, so no, I'm not saying that all asexual-identified folks are likely psychological messes. For a tiny percentage of the population, I absolutely believe it's a real thing that isn't the result of some type of mental or physical health condition. But, the number of people who come here and talk about traumas or illnesses or oppressive childhoods or bad relationships or gender issues, and wonder if those things have anything to do with why they don't feel too great about sex... well, there are a lot of those. Way more people than are likely to be innately just disinclined towards partnered sex.

[Homer]

1 hour ago, CBC said:

A connection between being asexual and having a mental illness? No. A connection between thinking you may be asexual when in actuality you aren't, but your lack of interest in sex is at least in part due to a mental health condition? Absolutely.

 

56 minutes ago, Telecaster68 said:

... and the nature of many mental illnesses is that you don't realise the effect they have till you start to recover. Most childhood trauma victims go through a long phase of denial, for example, and it can be hard to spot you're depressed.

These two.

[Telecaster68]

There's actually Proper Research (TM) on this.

 

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0092623X.2016.1208696

[Gldlynch]

I'm not sure if my input is anything valuable but I have a close friend who is autistic and even though he hasn't directly communicated with me, he seems very aro ace. However not all people who are autistic behave this way. Many people who are mentally handicapped have the capability to interact in intimate settings. Sexual orientation is truly just the way we are born 🙂

[Ceebs]

Many people who have ASD also don't appreciate being called "mentally handicapped". There's quite a wide range of abilities within the autism spectrum.

[Telecaster68]

9 minutes ago, Gldlynch said:

I'm not sure if my input is anything valuable but I have a close friend who is autistic and even though he hasn't directly communicated with me, he seems very aro ace. However not all people who are autistic behave this way. Many people who are mentally handicapped have the capability to interact in intimate settings. Sexual orientation is truly just the way we are born 🙂

Echoing CBC's comment about 'handicapped', but there is a correlation between being on the autism spectrum and identifying as a sexual or gender minority. Clearly it's not one-to-one, but people who are on the spectrum are statistically more likely to identify as gay, asexual, or genderfluid/nonbinary/etc.

 

I don't have any numbers, but it seems pretty clear that AVEN has a statistically higher incidence of people on the spectrum than the general population, which bears that out.

[Lucretia]

On 5/16/2018 at 2:34 AM, Norellia said:

If you mean connection as in mental disorder causes asexuality then no I would disagree completely. However, if you are referring to asexuality is connected to higher rates of certain mental disorders then I might agree. Again I do no think that a mental disorder causes asexuality, but being asexual makes you more likely to have things like anxiety and depression like most minority sexual groups. 

What your describing is called "minority stress" - the notion that living on the outside of the dominant culture can induce things like depression, anxiety, and suicidalization.