Applying Concepts of Well-being to the Treatment of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Patients

Abstract

Over the past few decades, psychiatry and medicine have embraced the goal of wellness as comprising more than just the absence of disease. As practitioners who apply the science of well being to help our patients lead happier and more fulfilling lives, we should also broaden the concept of wellness to include milestones, challenges, and achievements that specific communities may face. In the LGBT communities, we have addressed coming out as an important facet of well being, but now we have also begun to embrace the role that marriage and the creation of families of choice play in the lives of our patients. This presentation will explicate role of wellbeing in medicine and psychiatry and explore specifically how we can use concepts of wellness to help our LGBT patients achieve greater health and meaning in life.