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.

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

9/
🙏 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.

8/
🗣️ 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).

6/
📈 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.

5/
🔍 Want more detail? Here’s how outcomes varied slightly between LGB subgroups.
These differences were small overall — but worth unpacking.

4/
✅ 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.

3/
🧠 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.

2/
🏳️‍🌈 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.