Translational Issues in Psychological Science, Vol 11(1), Mar 2025, 18-30; doi:10.1037/tps0000417
Evolutionary psychology has provided evidence-based explanations of human behavior and mental health. However, misconceptions regarding evolutionary psychology (e.g., disregard for sociocultural factors; historical misuse) have led to its absence in models of mental health of sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals. This article critically discusses the developments in SGM mental health/illness research and proposes an evolutionarily informed multilevel approach to SGM mental health that integrates environmental, intra/interpersonal, biophysiological, and evolutionary factors. An evolutionarily informed discussion of the relationship between cisheteronormative societal contexts and the internalization of shame and stigma is presented. Additionally, this article provides evolutionary functional analyses of common experiences shared by SGM individuals (e.g., self-concealment, shame, and hypersexuality). The article calls for an evolutionarily informed affirmative therapy and offers practical considerations on psychoeducation, affect regulation, and fostering of deshaming and social safeness. Finally, this article discusses the future of research by evolutionarily informed approaches to SGM mental health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)