Lesbian and Gay Youth: Care and Counseling

Lesbian and Gay Youth: Care and Counseling (1998) is the first book published on health and mental health care for lesbian and gay adolescents." It is written by social worker Caitlin Ryan and pediatrician Donna Futterman. Ryan noted at the time, "People weren’t quite sure what bisexual identity meant during adolescence, and there were very few transgender youth." After searching the Library of Congress and the National Institutes of Health, she said, "I couldn’t find anything written about transgender youth that wasn’t pejorative, that was in any way seeing that as a normative adolescent identity." They included a more supportive chapter in the book on transgender adolescents. They also warned that research had shown that reparative therapy, psychotherapy to modify sexual orientation to heterosexual, may "contribute to mental health problems" and suicide.

The book was selected as 1998 book of the year in Psychiatric Nursing, the American Journal of Nursing. It also won the 1999 Distinguished Book Award from the American Psychological Association.

Presented in three parts; 'Overview: Lesbian and Gay Adolescents-Experiences and Needs', 'Primary Care and Prevention', and 'HIV/AIDS', it includes resources for health workers and parents as well as protocols on primary care and HIV/AIDS screenings.

Background
The introduction includes an explanation of the lack of literature in the area of serving LGBT youth: "Until the 1990s, lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth remained largely invisible, even within the lesbian and gay community. Their exclusion from research studies, health and mental health literature, professional training and the media was perpetrated by myths and misconceptions about adolescent identity development that perceived lesbian or gay identity as an adult phenomenon ... too young to be able to form a sexual identity."

The book "grew out of a conference in 1994 designed to identify primary care (including mental health) needs of this underserved population" and was intended to "integrate a large database of research information into a format that could be used by clinicians, educators, parents, and advocates for sexual minority youth." The Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics stated that LGBT youth face isolation and previously the only place many found ideas mirroring their own experiences was in novels that articulated the "self-exploration and wonderment about their sexuality and a sense of feeling different." The isolation plus rejection by family can lead to "depression, poor school performance, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, and suicidal attempts." Because a person's sexuality and the issues LGBT youth face are sensitive, and the "fear of stigma and rejection," many youth opt for secrecy which can affect their mental and physical health.

Critical reception
The American Journal of Sexuality called the volume "concise, readable, and scholarly" and noted it "employed a variety of helpful tables and figures as well as seven appendixes of resources and protocols." Their reviewer called it groundbreaking for "not just reviewing familiar literature but also synthesizing literature on gay youth of color and providing new information on ethnic minority identity development in lesbian and gay youth." The Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics described it as "clear, concise, and to the point." The Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services said each chapter is "richly documented." The Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, and Bis described it as "a unique and lasting resource by integrating the psychological and physical treatment issues of lesbian and gay youth." International Social Work felt it was a fine text but it needed a short final chapter where the editors would "attempt to develop some of the key theoretical implications of their comprehensive review," the reviewer also felt the prominence of the HIV/AIDS information was problematic.