Understanding cognitive vulnerability to depression within the LGBTQ+ community

LGBTQ+ individuals face higher rates of mental health difficulties than the general population (Stonewall, 2018). Alarmingly, no evidence has been found to suggest these inequalities are reducing, which calls for urgent research attention. LGBTQ+ specific sources of risk and vulnerability, which may be uniquely experienced alongside generally stressful life events, are theoretically conceptualised as minority stressors, but cognitive underpinnings of these risks are yet unclear.

The study of cognitive biases provides a unique insight into depression as an observable systematic negative bias in information processing. They can be observed both in those with clinically relevant symptoms of depression, and those at risk (Orchard & Reynolds, 2018). Understanding of cognitive biases, how they present over time, and in what context they might be triggered is vital to inform interventions and support vulnerable communities in becoming healthy and thriving.

This project will uniquely contribute to the literature by applying established theoretical work in LGBTQ+ literature to experimental psychology paradigms to examine cognitive biases from an identity specific perspective. To begin, a systematic review and narrative synthesis will be performed to categorise LGBTQ+ specific risk factors and align them with theoretical understanding.

This will be followed by a longitudinal study examining how LGBTQ+ specific minority stressors interact with cognitive biases over time, and shed light on nuances of association. The project will conclude with an experimental design, using mood induction paradigms with or without LGBTQ+ specific stimuli to understand how cognitive biases might be triggered by different forms of stressful life events.