Abstract
Bisexual individuals experience mental illness at higher rates than monosexual individuals. In addition, previous research has found that bisexual persons face documented discrimination from mental health providers. However, research is lacking in examining how negative experiences with providers impact attitudes toward mental health care utilization among bisexual clients. This study explores the associations between bisexual individuals’ level of outness with providers, experiences of provider biphobia, experiences of microaffirmations from providers, and help-seeking attitudes. We hypothesized that: (a) Anti-bisexual experiences from a mental health provider would mediate the relationship between outness and help-seeking intentions, and (b) Microaffirmations from a provider would mediate the relationship between outness and help-seeking intentions. Results indicated that greater outness with mental health providers predicted greater microaffirmation experiences from mental health providers. As expected, anti-bisexual experiences significantly and negatively impacted intent to seek mental health treatment. There was not evidence of mediation.
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