iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

This is no longer about priority-setting; it is a failure to meet a basic standard of public health investment.

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What infuriates me is that there has long been strong evidence of LGB+ health inequities, now reinforced by new population-level data, yet research funding bodies have not invested at a routine or proportionate level in LGB+ health research, as far as I have observed.

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-Among people aged 16–24 who died, suicide accounted for a much larger proportion of deaths in LGB+ people (around 45% of all deaths, compared with about 27% in heterosexual people).

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Tom Kent @tompsy.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

- Deaths from any cause were about 30% higher in LGB+ people. - Alcohol-related deaths occurred at almost twice the rate. - Drug-poisoning deaths occurred at nearly three times the rate.

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PHQ-9, GAD-7, and PSS are discrete integer scales. Post-treatment SDs of ≈0.5–0.8 suggest that most people in intervention group ended up with the same or nearly the same total score — strikingly little between-person variation, both in a single summed score & across multi-item symptom measures! 😬

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Reposted by Tom Kent

Pim Cuijpers @pimcuijpers.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

People with more severe depression probably benefit more from psychotherapy than those with mild depression. Read our new meta-analysis of almost 400 randomized trials of therapies for depression. With Mathias Harrer, Clara Miguel, Eirini Karyotaki, Davide Papola doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...

doi.org

Redirecting

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Tom Kent @tompsy.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

The potential overturning of conversion therapy bans highlights something wider: therapy isn’t “anything goes.” We don’t just say or practise whatever we think or believe — our work is guided by evidence, ethics, and professional standards. #SCOTUS #therapy

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Tom Kent @tompsy.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

LGBT+ Health Evidence Review - NHS England The evidence submission process will close on Sunday, 7 September 2025. #LGBT #NHS www.england.nhs.uk/about/equali...

england.nhs.uk

NHS England » LGBT+ health evidence review

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Reposted by Tom Kent

Martin Plöderl @ploederl.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

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.

bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com

Sexual orientation differences in treatment expectation, alliance, and outcome among patients at risk for suicide in a public psychiatric hospital - BMC Psychiatry

Background Sexual minority (SM) individuals (gay, lesbian, bisexual, or otherwise nonheterosexual) are at increased risk for mental disorders and suicide and adequate mental healthcare may be life-sav...

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But our study, and international studies, suggest (good) psychotherapy may buffer these types of external stresses and help narrow disparities in clinical outcomes.

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There’s likely regional variation in environmental stigma and community support — so it’s a natural hypothesis that these factors affect outcomes.

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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.

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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.

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Thanks for the repost, André — and great question! Because our data come from urban London services, I’m careful not to overgeneralise.

Martin Plöderl @ploederl.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

Reposted by Tom Kent

UK study: LGB patients benefit as well from psychotherapy as heterosexual pts. We did a similar study in 2017, it was very hard to get it published, maybe bc results didn't fit the narrative. Don't get me wrong, homophobia is real, also in healthcare. We need to get rid of biases in research, too

cambridge.org

Psychological therapy outcomes by sexual orientation and gender: a retrospective cohort study | Psychological Medicine | Cambridge Core

Psychological therapy outcomes by sexual orientation and gender: a retrospective cohort study - Volume 55

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Tom Kent @tompsy.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

@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.

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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.

7/ 📊 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.

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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.

Psychological therapy outcomes by sexual orientation and gender: a retrospective cohort study | Psychological Medicine | Cambridge Core

1/ 📢 Pleased to share that our new paper is now published in Psychological Medicine! We looked at therapy outcomes for LGB patients compared to heterosexual patients in NHS Talking Therapies. Here’s a short thread on what we found 👇 🔗 doi.org/10.1017/S003...

doi.org

Psychological therapy outcomes by sexual orientation and gender: a retrospective cohort study - Volume 55

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Reposted by Tom Kent

Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Prof. John Pachankis directs one of the world’s leading academic centers on LGBTQ+ mental health research. In March, the initiative lost all eight of its federal NIH grants and contracts totaling about $5 million. Pachankis reached out to Jamie Marks. Marks' gift saved the study: m.yale.edu/c7t9

"His Gift Saved the Study" Yale Donor Gives LGBTQ+ Research a Lifeline Read more in our latest issue of Science & Society. Photo of John Pachankis speaking.

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Tom Kent @tompsy.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

One of Paul Flowers’ concluding points in his keynote was the importance of supporting the next generation of qualitative researchers. I think mentorship from more experienced researchers is very advantageous—not only for early career success in academia, but also for achieving impact #qmip2025

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Tom Kent @tompsy.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

In his keynote, Paul Flowers highlighted the use of logic models—within qualitative intervention development—as a key tool for building team consensus, supporting theorising, and shaping commissioning briefs. #qmip2025

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Michael Larkin also discusses AI in qualitative analysis. Similar to Virginia Braun’s points, "we" are the instrument of analysis. AI simply identifies topics that are spoken about; it is not performing analysis, and we need to resist the idea that AI is doing an analysis #qmip2025

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Concluding that the question is more about whether we should use it than whether we can use it.

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This is paraphrased and not run through AI, so it is my own interpretation of Virginia Braun's keynote speech at #qmip2025 conference ;)

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

Braun says no (yeah nah) to AI. That coding and analysis is a human endeavour. Coding should not be thought of as a laborious task that needs to be completed quickly and “free from bias”, but rather as a worthwhile, enjoyable, and creative experience, where we are the interpreters #qmip2025

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Reposted by Tom Kent

"LGBT+ people have a reputation for doing remarkable things against huge odds, with little broad support, and I see that possibility in my students and trainees today." - Prof. John Pachankis www.nature.com/artic...

nature.com

Taking the initiative: improving LGBT+ mental health through science

Nature Mental Health - Taking the initiative: improving LGBT+ mental health through science

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Tom Kent @tompsy.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

"It is important, therefore, not to embrace new therapies too easily but to focus on other innovations that will result in better outcomes, such as increased frequency of sessions, feedback to patients, and better matching the needs of patients to the expertise of therapists."

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Tom Kent @tompsy.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Chance, luck, and ignorance: how to put our uncertainty into numbers - David Spiegelhalter www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cybn...

youtube.com

Chance, luck, and ignorance: how to put our uncertainty into numbers - David Spiegelhalter

YouTube video by Oxford Mathematics

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Tom Kent @tompsy.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

Oxford's First Folios, Friends of the Bodleian Annual Lecture 2024 Professor Emma Smith #Shakespeare #Books www.youtube.com/watch?v=coRR...

youtube.com

Oxford's First Folios, Friends of the Bodleian Annual Lecture 2024 // Emma Smith

YouTube video by Bodleian Libraries

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Tom Kent @tompsy.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

I see what you mean, but my observation is that the profiles aren't well-curated 😂. They don't always align closely with the topic—some people just say, "Add me," and the list holder adds them without much consideration.

Tom Kent @tompsy.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Congrats Declan. Looks great!