Weibling Project: Addressing Mental Illness Discrimination through Law and Psychology

1. LGBT Forum Weibling Project for the Psycholegal Study and Treatment of Discrimination Law and Psychology Program UNL

2. LGBT Forum Mental Illness Discrimination STIGMA • Reciprocal causal relationship between mental illness and discrimination • How does social stigma create obstacles to care giving for LGBT people?

3. LGBT Forum • Weibling Project: • Assessment, treatment, and client referrals • Evaluating and testing policy interventions • Conducting legal decision-making research • Conducting discrimination research in education, employment and housing • Conducting community education and development projects • Wiener, R.L. & Willborn, S. L. (Eds.) (2011). Disability and Age Discrimination: Perspectives in Law and Psychology. New York: Springer Press.

4. Weibling Project ASSUMPTION Efforts aimed at eliminating discrimination based upon any stigmatizing factor will be successful to the extent to which the efforts are consistent with existing law

5. Weibling Project “Law is a therapeutic agent…legal rules, legal practices, and the way legal actors (such as judges, lawyers, government officials, police officers, and expert witnesses testifying in court) play their roles impose consequences on the mental health and emotional wellbeing of those affected.” Winick (2006)

6. Weibling Project Philosophy • Discrimination and mental illness is a compounded and complex psychological problem • Relationship Between mental illness, discrimination, and social dysfunction is resistant to change • Weibling Project – a new model for addressing these issues through the interaction of legal and psychological interventions

7. Weibling Project Model Social and Personal Dysfunction Discrimination Race, Ethnicity, and Sexual Orientation Mental Illness

8. Weibling Project University of Nebraska at Lincoln http://psychology.unl.edu/weibling/weibling-project-home

9. Weibling Project Legal Analysis Law students working in the UNL Civil Law Clinic interview clients and advise them about the law that regulates their discrimination experiences. • Students work under supervision of the law clinic director and refer clients to a slate of qualified attorneys when appropriate

10. Weibling Project Psychological Counseling Clinical Psychology graduate students under the supervision of the faculty provide psychological assessment and short-term help for those who have suffered psychological harm in connection with their discrimination claim

11. Weibling Project Research • Descriptions of discrimination experiences and their outcomes • Basic research on the causes and effects of discrimination • The origins and impact of stigma and bias against those with visible and invisible markers such as sexual orientation • Legal decision making to understand how courts, agencies, jurors, judges, and others resolve discrimination conflicts

12. Weibling Project University of Nebraska at Lincoln http://psychology.unl.edu/weibling/weibling-project-home

13. Sexual Orientation Discrimination • Federal law does not prohibit discrimination based upon sexual orientation. • Discrimination that results from sexual orientation interferes with marriage, parenting, and obtaining affordable health care. • 2. Social scientists have studied extensively the way in which this type of discrimination works in laboratory and real world environments.

14. Research: Sexual Orientation Is there an economic cost of being gay or lesbian in the workplace?

15. Sexual Orientation Discrimination • Using Data from the General Social Survey • Black, Makar, Sanders, & Taylor (2003) • Cornell University ILR Review: • Salaries for gay men are 14% to 16% lower than for heterosexual men • Salaries for lesbian women are 20% to 34% higher than for heterosexual women

16. Research: Sexual Orientation Is it better for gays and lesbians to come out at work or to stay invisible?

17. Research: Sexual Orientation • Open Group Processes – workers express their views and participate in decision making • Button and Declementi (2002) surveyed 255 lesbian and gay employees • Strategies gays and lesbians use at work: • Counterfeiting – more open group processes • Avoiding – fewer open group processes • Integrating – no relationship

18. Research: Sexual Orientation What are the consequences of not coming out at work? What happens when LGBT workers fear disclosing their sexual identities?

19. Research: Sexual Orientation Ragins, Singh, and Cornwell (2007) National sample of 534 gay, lesbian, and bisexual employees: Work Related Factors Those who feared disclosure: Lower job satisfaction, less organizational commitment, less opportunities for promotion, less career commitment, greater intention to quit

20. Research: Sexual Orientation • Ragins, Singh, and Cornwell (2007) • National sample of 534 gay, lesbian, and bisexual employees: • Wellbeing Factors: • Those who feared disclosure: • More physical stress symptoms, • more depressive symptoms, • more irritation at work

21. Research: Sexual Orientation Does public policy make a difference in the mental health of LGBT populatons?

22. Research: Sexual Orientation Hatzenbuehler, Keyes, and Hasin (2009) National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (N = 34,563) In states without hate crime and employment discrimination laws based upon sexual orientation: There was a strong relationship between being LGBT and having anxiety disorder, PTSD, dysthymia and psychiatric comorbidity

23. LGBT Forum Stigma Discrimination • Reciprocal relationship between stigma due to sexual orientation and discrimination • We need models that consider and treat discrimination and sexual orientation stigma as part of the same psychological process.

24. Law and Psychology Program University of Nebraska at Lincoln LGBT Forum Lincoln Commission on Human Rights April 24 2013