Mental Health Outcomes Among Transgender & Gender Diverse Survivors of Violence: A Literature Review

This thesis is a literature review of current articles and data available on mental health outcomes among transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) survivors of victimization. The objective of this research is to critically examine and synthesize the literature describing the relationship between victimization and mental health outcomes among TGD people. This literature review includes data from sixteen articles gathered through The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and PubMed (MEDLINE) and utilized search terms related to TGD people, mental health, and violence. This research focuses on four key types of mental health outcomes: depressive symptoms, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, self-injurious thoughts, and self-injurious behaviors. The research shows that high rates of minority stressors including gender-based victimization and discrimination can negatively impact TGD people’s mental health outcomes. The objectives of the research are met and this thesis provides an overview of what is in the current literature for mental health outcomes among the TGD violence survivors population.