How to think about identity development models (Reading)

There are many theoretical models about LGBTQI+ identity development and the stages of the coming out process. These can inform mental health professional’s practices in the following ways:

• Models can help to see through the process LGBTQI+ persons go through
• Models can help to determine the normative challenges and crises of the coming out process
• Models can help the professional in recognising the moments where special support and intervention might be needed.

It is important for mental health professionals to be acquainted with these theoretical concepts and be able to use them. Also, the model can be helpful in pointing out for clients that they are not alone and not a “freak”:  the experiences they have are completely common and many others have had similar experiences.

However, it is crucial that these models should not be used for prediction, or understood as a “guide” that each individual has to follow in their processes, rather as an aid in better understanding the client’s current situation.

• Some individuals do not move through the process at the same speed or in the same sequence. Some people are aware of their identity at an early age while some are not, and the process can be gradual or very sudden.
• Coming out is not an end point, but a continuing process – in each new circumstance (for example while meeting new people, starting at a new job, enrolling a new course etc.), one decides whether and how to express their identity, whether they would like to come out or not.
• Coming out can mean more than one process: some people have more than one LGBTQI+ identities (e.g. as a transgender woman who also identifies as a lesbian), that are not necessarily processed at the same time, thus they may come out twice. There are others who go through the process more than once in their lives, as their identities might be shifting or they might find and inhabit a new identity that is more true to them.

There is a risk that mental health professionals might pressure their LGBTQI+ clients to come out as a part of their process of self-acceptance. One can think that being out is “good”, “healthy” and generally a happy place to be, and being in the closet must be “unhealthy” and “bad” for the individual. The assumption can be that LGBTQI+ persons feel bad up until they reach the “final” stage, in which they are completely and comfortably out. In reality, there is no “final” stage and being out looks different to everyone. Coming out is certainly a journey with challenges, but it is unhelpful to think about it in this black and white way. Earlier stages in the process are not inherently bad or horrible, there can be a lot of joy, freedom and meaningful transformation found in them. LGBTQI+ persons don’t need to be saved from the early stages of the process. A mental health professional must try to avoid the role of the savior, which they can easily pick up based on the outlined binary ideas about coming out.