Some battles are not fought in public rallies or loud debates. They unfold quietly in therapy rooms, on the psychiatrist’s couch, or in long silences between family conversations. For LGBTQ individuals in India, navigating identity often means braving an invisible terrain where shame is inherited, validation is rare, and simply being oneself can be a daily negotiation.

The mental health struggles of LGBTQ individuals in India are both urgent and deeply overlooked. Recent studies paint a stark picture concerning India’s LGBTQ population: among individuals with same-sex partners (males), between 29 percent and 45 percent report symptoms of depression, while transgender women show even higher rates, ranging from 43 percent to 59 percent. Anxiety is just as prevalent, affecting up to 40 percent of those with same-sex partners and nearly 39 percent of transgender women.

Perhaps most alarming is the prevalence of suicidal thoughts, with almost half of those in same-sex relationships (males) experiencing them and nearly one in four attempting suicide. These aren’t just statistics — they are lived, everyday realities of people, quietly playing out behind closed doors.

Pride Month is not just about visibility and rainbow flags across social media. But it is about being able to reflect and start a conversation. What does it mean to be queer, navigating health challenges and mental distress, in a country that only recently took steps to ban conversion therapy? What does support look like when your suffering isn’t rooted in a chemical imbalance, but in the quiet and constant messaging from society that you are “too much,” or “too different?”

To dig deeper, we spoke with two experts at the forefront of mental health care for queer individuals: Dr Akanksha Das, a consultant clinical psychologist at Fortis Hospital, Mulund, and Dr Sameer Bhargava, a psychiatrist at Fortis Escorts Hospital, Faridabad. Their raw, thoughtful, and at times unsettling offer a window into the private pain and public erasure that many queer Indians still face and how they try to help any individual who walks in through their door seeking a sense of acceptance or an allyship.

‘They fear that their identities will be seen as a disorder’

When queer clients first walk into therapy, it’s rarely just about a breakup, a panic attack, or trouble sleeping. There’s an added layer of caution, an emotional pre-screening that starts even before the session does.

“Queer individuals may be very cautious when entering therapy,” Dr Akanksha shares. “They fear that in session, they won’t be taken seriously or that their identities will be seen not as real, but as a mental health issue in themselves.”

Even today, despite increasing awareness, many queer clients walk into sessions wondering whether their identities will be pathologised, an echo of a medical history that........

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