Implications of the decline in LGBT rights for population mental health: Evidence from Polish “LGBT-free zones”

Theories of minority stress suggest recent legislation limiting LGBT rights can reduce the health of LGBT individuals and their families. We investigate how the creation of LGBT-free zones across Poland during 2019 and 2020 affected mental health and mortality. We find that annual suicide attempts increased by 16.5 %, or 5 attempts per 100k, deaths from external causes, including automobile accidents, suicides and other accidents and injuries increased 10.6 %, or 5.6 deaths per 100k, and suicide deaths increased 17.0 % (p = 0.108), or 1.9 deaths per 100k, in LGBT-free zones. The rise in suicide attempts was concentrated among individuals aged 13-18 and 45-49 and coincided with an 8.8 % increase in sales of prescription drugs for addictive disorders. However, there was no change in the use of psychotropic medications used to treat mental health conditions, indicative of limited access to mental health care.