Stein, Marc Robert2015-08-282015-08-282014-11-142015-08-28http://hdl.handle.net/10315/29933Queer and trans people have a particularly fraught relationship to the concept of ‘mental illness’ due to the longstanding and ongoing pathologizing of gender and sexual dissidence. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and trans (LGBQT) activists have challenged the notion that non-normative sexualities and genders are forms of ‘mental illness,’ arguing for depathologization on the basis of the healthiness of queer and trans desires, relationships, and embodiments. Yet there are troubling consequences of arguing for equity based on the assertion of mental healthiness and the disavowal of connections between notions of mental distress and LGBQT people. Insights from mad studies suggest that this perspective can be seen as perpetuating the positioning of mental distress as a deficit as well as sanist ideologies about agency and personhood. Moreover, intersectional understandings of sexuality, gender, and disability indicate that there is a population of LGBQT people who experience mental distress. Challenges to the dominant biomedical model of mental illness have emerged from those who emphasize social approaches. These perspectives stress the importance of social context and question the efficacy of medical strategies to fully address mental distress. This dissertation examines the voices and viewpoints of 37 people who identify as LGBQT and who experience mental distress in their everyday lives. Interviewed in Toronto and Winnipeg, these individuals offer distinct perspectives on biomedical and social approaches to mental distress. The first chapter reviews some of the literature in mad studies and discusses methodological decisions. The second chapter outlines some of the main critiques of the biomedical model and presents some of the social factors that played a role in participants’ experiences of mental distress. Chapter three examines participants’ encounters with mental health care practitioners, analyzing the effects of the biomedical model in practice. Chapter four draws on Canada’s national mental health strategy and participants’ narratives to examine the concept of recovery. Chapter five explores interview data about employment as well as scholarly work regarding ‘invisible identities’ to analyze the participants’ workplace experiences. Overall, this dissertation uses the intersectional voices and viewpoints of LGBQT people who experience mental distress to critique dominant understandings of ‘mental illness.’enAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.Mental healthGLBT studiesGender studiesElectronic Thesis or Dissertation2015-08-28MadnessMental distressMental healthSocial justiceIntersectionalityGayLesbianBisexualQueerTransDisabilitySexualityGender identityRacializationRacismRaceOppressionSanismDiscriminationBiomedicalismMedical modelSocial approachesSocial modelDepathologizationMad studiesQualitativeTorontoOntarioWinnipegManitobaCanadaLived experienceFirst person accountsPolicyEmploymentWorkplaceCommunity participationHealthcarePsychiatryPsychologyRecoveryMental Health Commission of Canada