“We’d Be Free”: Narratives of Life Without Homophobia, Racism, or Sexism

Stigma and social inequality deprive disadvantaged social groups of a sense of social well-being. Stress researchers have focused on prejudice-related events and conditions but have not described more intangible stressors experienced by sexual minorities. We use narrative methods to examine how sexual minorities experience stigma and social inequality as we focus on the more intangible stressors that are both pervasive and difficult to measure. Three themes emerged in the narratives of our ethnically diverse sample of 57 adult sexual minority women and men: (a) stigma deprived them of access to critical possibilities and opportunities; (b) stigma deprives them of safety and acceptance; and (c) despite this, the experience of stigma is also related to the adoption of a positive and collective orientation towards their stigmatized identities. Recognizing these stressors and related resilience can direct policy makers toward interventions that go even beyond eliminating prejudice by including goals to strengthen minority communities

Substance Use Disorders and Violence

© Springer International Publishing AG 2018.Substance use seems to be associated with increased prevalence levels of violent behaviour in both general population and psychiatric patients, with ‘dual-diagnosis’ clients showing high rates of risky and criminal behaviour and worse therapy compliance. Cases of drug-related aggressiveness mostly involve a number of molecules, e.g. ethanol, stimulants, cannabinoids, opiates, benzodiazepines, synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic cathinones. Consumers of the virtually few hundred, and up to a few thousand, substances currently available may present to the emergency departments without providing information about the substances(s) ingested and it is likely that standard drug tests will show negative results. An appropriate treatment/management plan to cope with the related acute behavioural and psychopathological disturbances is here discussed. Because of the complex behavioural and medical toxicity issues associated with drug intake, raising awareness and education of healthcare professionals on drugs’ health harms, interventions, harm reduction techniques and referral pathways are here deemed of particular relevance