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Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1999;56:883-884.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

NO TOPIC has caused the field of psychiatry more controversy than homosexuality, and 2 articles in this issue of the ARCHIVES are likely to reopen past controversies and begin new ones.^1-2 These studies contain arguably the best published data on the association between homosexuality and psychopathology, and both converge on the same unhappy conclusion: homosexual people are at a substantially higher risk for some forms of emotional problems, including suicidality, major depression, and anxiety disorder. Preliminary results from a large, equally well-conducted Dutch study³ generally corroborate these findings.

METHODOLOGICAL ADVANCES AND LIMITATIONS

The strength of the new studies is their degree of control. All too often, prior studies marshaled to examine the mental illness or health of homosexual people used samples seemingly selected to prove the point the researchers hoped to make.⁴ Gay men undergoing therapy seemed dysfunctional, while volunteers from homophile organizations seemed well. The current studies are not susceptible to this criticism.

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POTENTIAL EXPLANATIONS

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