The Head vs the Heart: Comparing Psychoeducation and Emotion Focused Writing as Ways for Bi+ Men to Process Biphobic...

Bi+ men have disproportionately high rates of mental health, physical health and substance use concerns. According to minority stress theory, societal stigma adversely impacts health outcomes for LGBTQ+ individuals. This study focused on improving health outcomes for bi+ men, a group that has received little focus in the literature outside of focusing on sexual health. The current intervention aimed to help bi+ men process through previous biphobic experiences by exploring two interventions, psychoeducation and emotion focused writing, and evaluated their effectiveness in reducing the impact of biphobic events. To evaluate intervention effectiveness, we measured participants' identity-related concerns, trauma/stressor symptoms, depression levels and gender role norms before and after completing one of the two interventions. Overall, the results suggest that both interventions may be helpful in reducing the impact of biphobic events and improving health outcomes for bi+ populations, with intervention differences in gender role conflict and internalized biphobia. These interventions could be a helpful supplement or alternative to individual therapy to process through biphobic experiences.