Abstract
Bisexual individuals face unique challenges in terms of mental health, discrimination, and violence, much of which are rooted in the invisibility of sexual orientation in broader society. This invisibility contributes to greater risk of violence (e.g., bullying, intimate partner violence, workplace discrimination, and macroaggressions) across many contexts throughout the lifespan, as well as a lack of resources for clinicians serving bisexual clients in these contexts. Grounded in theories of minority stress, developmental contextualism, concealable stigmatized identity, and psychological sense of community, this chapter provides recommendations to clinicians working with bisexual victims of violence to promote positive bisexual visibility, increase access to community resources, and enable self-affirmation. Recommendations are also given for clinicians to advocate for bisexual individuals outside of clinical practice to increase bisexual visibility, educate others on bisexual issues, and further bisexual advocacy in professional contexts.
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Mefford, T.E., Chen, E.C. (2021). Minority Stress, Stigma, and Violence: Affirmative Counseling for Bisexual Individuals. In: Lund, E.M., Burgess, C., Johnson, A.J. (eds) Violence Against LGBTQ+ Persons. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52612-2_12
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