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<PublisherName>jmedicalcasereports</PublisherName>
<JournalTitle>Frontiers in Medical Case Reports</JournalTitle>
<PISSN>I</PISSN>
<EISSN>S</EISSN>
<Volume-Issue>Volume 7; Issue 4</Volume-Issue>
<PartNumber/>
<IssueTopic>Multidisciplinary</IssueTopic>
<IssueLanguage>English</IssueLanguage>
<Season>(Jul-Aug, 2026)</Season>
<SpecialIssue>N</SpecialIssue>
<SupplementaryIssue>N</SupplementaryIssue>
<IssueOA>Y</IssueOA>
<PubDate>
<Year>-0001</Year>
<Month>11</Month>
<Day>30</Day>
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<ArticleType>Medical and Clinical Research</ArticleType>
<ArticleTitle>Minority Stress and LGBTQ Mental Health in Greece and The Balkans: A Social-Psychiatric Scoping Review</ArticleTitle>
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<ArticleLanguage>English</ArticleLanguage>
<ArticleOA>Y</ArticleOA>
<FirstPage>1</FirstPage>
<LastPage>9</LastPage>
<AuthorList>
<Author>
<FirstName>Stergios</FirstName>
<LastName>Kaprinis</LastName>
<AuthorLanguage>English</AuthorLanguage>
<Affiliation/>
<CorrespondingAuthor>N</CorrespondingAuthor>
<ORCID/>
<FirstName>Anastasios</FirstName>
<LastName>Charalampakis</LastName>
<AuthorLanguage>English</AuthorLanguage>
<Affiliation/>
<CorrespondingAuthor>Y</CorrespondingAuthor>
<ORCID/>
<FirstName>Ioannis</FirstName>
<LastName>Sarris</LastName>
<AuthorLanguage>English</AuthorLanguage>
<Affiliation/>
<CorrespondingAuthor>Y</CorrespondingAuthor>
<ORCID/>
<FirstName>Theodoros</FirstName>
<LastName>Tsirigotis</LastName>
<AuthorLanguage>English</AuthorLanguage>
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<CorrespondingAuthor>Y</CorrespondingAuthor>
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<Abstract>Background: LGBTQ people in Greece and the Balkans experience elevated rates of depression, anxiety, substance use, and suicidality, which are increasingly understood through minority stress theory as consequences of socially produced stressors rather than intrinsic vulnerabilities. Recent European and Greek data indicate that these disparities persist despite legal reforms and increasing public visibility. Case presentation (context): A theory-guided scoping review was undertaken to synthesize peer-reviewed and institutional evidence on minority stress, mental health, and structural conditions affecting LGBTQ populations in Greece, Croatia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, and the wider Western Balkans. This review was accompanied by an embedded cross-sectional Greek pilot psychometric study among 108 adults, of whom 67 identified as LGBTQ+, in order to examine the feasibility of structured minority-stress assessment in a regional clinical context. Investigations: Participants completed measures of depressive symptoms, psychological distress, perceived stress, trauma exposure, rejection sensitivity, internalized LGBTQ-phobia, and structural stigma. Psychometric analyses included internal consistency, confirmatory factor analysis, and convergent validity correlations. Recent Greek studies in community and refugee samples provide convergent context for these constructs. Outcome: Across Greece and the reviewed Balkan settings, LGBTQ populations showed elevated psychological distress, depressive symptoms, and suicidality linked to discrimination, violence, family rejection, concealment, internalized stigma, and barriers to affirming care. The Greek pilot demonstrated good-to-excellent internal consistency and theory-consistent associations between minority-stress indicators and mental health outcomes, broadly aligning with recent Greek psychometric work in LGBTQ+ populations. Conclusion: Minority stress theory generalizes well to Greece and the Balkan region and provides a clinically useful social-psychiatric framework for understanding LGBTQ mental health disparities. Structured assessment of minority-stress exposures and related cognitions appears feasible and relevant for clinical care, including for refugees and asylum seekers.</Abstract>
<AbstractLanguage>English</AbstractLanguage>
<Keywords>LGBTQ,Minority Stress,Greece,Balkans,Depression,Suicidality,Social Psychiatry,Structural Stigma,Psychometrics,Case-Linked Review</Keywords>
<URLs>
<Abstract>https://www.jmedicalcasereports.org/ubijournal-v1copy/journals/abstract.php?article_id=16337&title=Minority Stress and LGBTQ Mental Health in Greece and The Balkans: A Social-Psychiatric Scoping Review</Abstract>
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<References>
<ReferencesarticleTitle>References</ReferencesarticleTitle>
<ReferencesfirstPage>16</ReferencesfirstPage>
<ReferenceslastPage>19</ReferenceslastPage>
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</References>
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