Interpersonal psychotherapy with sexual and gender minority individuals

Abstract This chapter explains sexual minority (SM) (which includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, or any otherwise nonheterosexual) people and gender minority (GM) (which refers to transgender, nonbinary, and gender-diverse) people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. It provides a brief overview of the epidemiology of mental illness among SGM (sexual and gender minority) populations. It also discusses minority stress, a major contributor to SGM health disparities that is often interpersonally mediated. The chapter proposes strategies for delivering interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) to SGM clients. It reviews studies that provide insight into how IPT might be applied more broadly with SM individuals.