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This chapter explores the concept of bioprecarity in the context of intimate partner violence (IPV) in LBTQ relationships by focusing on help-seeking as crossing encounters. Judith Butler (2004) discusses the body as a site of human vulnerability emphasizing that ‘this vulnerability is always articulated differently, that it cannot be properly thought of outside a differentiated field of power and, specifically, the differential operation of norms of recognition.’ (44). Eve Sedgwick (1990) describes the invisibility sustaining the figure of the closet as the defining structure of gay oppression (71). Following this line of thought Beverly Skeggs and Leslie Moran (2014) address the need to produce ‘new visibilities’ claims for protection against violence (5). Drawing on these theorizations and on original empirical data, in this chapter I analyse the concept of help-seeking as crossing encounters of intimacy, not only in the sense of the private-public realms, but also regarding community and cultural boundaries, as the embodied LBTQ-victim-survivor transgresses the cultural perceptions of victimhood when meeting help-providers in an institutional context.

The chapter begins with a brief discussion of the need to consider ethnocultural status in mental health assessments and the limitations of current knowledge. It then reviews the impact of ethnocultural affiliation on the risk of exposure to potentially traumatic events (PTE) and the lifetime prevalence and conditional risk of PTSD in non-White, non Euro-American groups. This is followed by a discussion of how ethnocultural status is reflected in the expression of psychological injuries or symptoms and subsequent coping and help-seeking responses. The chapter also examines cross-cultural assessment issues and ethics. It ends with a discussion of current controversies and recommendations regarding future directions in the field.

Disorder categories and taking medication, despite their practical and symbolic benefits, also carry negative connotations. Interview participants raised concerns about help-seeking, disclosure, mental illness, medication, and neurobiological explanation. These concerns are often acknowledged in anti-stigma campaigns but attributed to issues of blame and judgmental attitudes. But those were not the issues for participants. Rather, they were worried about implications of being “different,” of not being fully in control, both in their own eyes and those of others. To understand and situate these worries and the efforts participants made to contain or neutralize the threat to their agency, it is critical to bring another part of the background into view, the broader cultural matrix of social norms and identity-values. Predicaments involve challenges to self, to one’s being, and medical language and medication add to these challenges. In dealing with these challenges, people sought to carefully control disclosure and impose an interpretation that preserves and restores their autonomy and self-efficacy. They used various Goffmanian self-presentation strategies to mitigate and deflect identity-spoiling connotations and manage the meaning of their story.

All workplace traumas are experienced within the context of organizational culture and climate. Recent advances in workplace health research found that psychosocial factors in the workplace have a significant effect on work-related health problems. Key factors include: control over work demands and resources; predictability and uncontrollability; appropriate utilization of skills; opportunities for decision making; and social support. This chapter points to the importance of other workplace issues as mediators of trauma such as overall workload, and perceived support of colleagues, managers, and the union. These findings raise important considerations for the development of peer response teams and interventions. The larger organizational culture contributes to the success or effectiveness of peer support teams. The chapter also discusses organizational health and psychosocial factors that may promote or impede the effectiveness of peer support programs.

In this chapter participants begin to detail how they successfully exited their abusive relationship. The idea of being victimized or being a victim is one that carries with it cultural significance. Across the stories of survival and eventual exit, engrained inequalities often structured the ways in which trans victims both responded to abuse and were responded to by help providers. Participants describe a world that is rigidly structured against them as they attempted to utilize resources and avenues that are traditionally available to most IPV victims. They describe two major processes in leaving abusive relationships: walking the gender tightrope and navigating genderist resources.

This chapter centres on circumcised women’s experiences of bioprecarity in the context of seeking clitoral reconstructive surgery in Sweden. Female genital cutting (FGC), significant in marking the mature, desirable and marriageable woman in some cultures (Johansen, 2016), is today a significant phenomenon in Europe due to recent migration patterns (Van Baelen, Ortensi et al., 2016). Transcultural migration and societal changes create new perceptions of the body, self and identity. At the same time, new notions of bodily rights, what is perceived as legitimate claims and needs, and advances in biotechnology have enabled circumcised women in some European countries to have their clitoris reconstructed (Foldés, 2003). Based on original empirical data in the form of interviews with FGC-affected women, this chapter seeks to investigate how migrant women who have undergone FGC perceive their bodies and selves, how they construct and negotiate their identity within new social structures and gender norms, and how they understand clitoral reconstructive surgery after FGC, in the Swedish context.

Chapter 3 highlights social class differences in children’s efforts to seek assistance from teachers. When confronting challenges at school, most middle-class children readily sought assistance from teachers. They were also proactive and persistent in making requests. Working-class children instead tried to deal with problems on their own. Although they occasionally asked for help from teachers, they did so when it was apparent that requests were welcome and would not result in reprimand (e.g., when teachers approached them to offer assistance). Working-class students were also less insistent in making requests. They raised their hands rather than calling out or approaching teachers directly, and they rarely asked follow-up questions, even when they were still confused or struggling. Those differences in assistance-seeking also had real consequences. Middle-class students received more help than did their working-class peers. As a result, they were often able to complete their work more quickly and more accurately.

This chapter examines motivational aspects that cause students to play educational games and learn their featured content, with particular emphasis on a card game called Tug-of-War. It begins with an overview of help-seeking in technical environments before turning to a discussion of an initial way to measure motivation to learn: by focusing on the type and amount of help students seek from others in the classroom while playing the game. It then describes the design and development of Tug-of-War and how it has improved learning outcomes with respect to traditional academic measures.

This chapter looks at the wider help-seeking activities of the participating women. It focuses on the police, social services, teachers, and the criminal-justice system. The importance of inter-agency fora is stressed throughout this text, as it is crucial that healthcare professionals understand that women access them for assistance as part of wider help-seeking strategies which involve other professionals.

Chapters 6 and 7 are about the help-seeking stage of the OCD trajectory. Chapter 6 demonstrates how people have metaphorically formed a marriage with their OCD. They have been using their compulsions and other coping tactics to manage their thoughts—everything from avoiding things related to their thoughts, to seeking reassurance from other people, altering their diets, journaling, and exercising. These are all aspects of what can be referred to as the “daily grind.” While some strategies may be beneficial, others are not. Therefore, professional treatment commonly involves patients attempting to give up aspects of this relationship to form a new one with medication, or taking their thoughts and behaviors to therapy and hoping to revamp the relationship. The chapter explores this process and its difficulties. For instance, popular approaches to treating OCD involve people confronting their fears in therapy and recognizing how certain coping behaviors can reinforce obsessions or compulsions. Family and people close to those with OCD have also formed a relationship with the OCD. This chapter discusses the resulting complexities of treating the OCD.

This chapter examines the extent to which people underestimate their influence on others in terms of help-seeking and compliance. Drawing on Robert Cialdini's 1984 book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, which tackles the art and science of persuasion, it shows that people can be persuaded to say “yes” if you just give them a chance. It also suggests that a fancy title or massive wealth is not necessary for someone to wield power over others; all that is required is a little bit of knowledge about the psychology of compliance. Finally, it discusses help-seeking as a source of influence as well as the importance of aligning the goals of the persuader and the target.

Part II traces the trajectory of people’s experiences from first perceiving they had a problem, to labeling it OCD, to seeking help, and learning to live with the disorder. This is the illness “career.” Chapter 4 focuses on the pre-OCD experience, or the first stage of the OCD “career.” This stage depicts what life was like for people before they realized they had a mental disorder. The central question for people was, “Am I experiencing thoughts, urges, and behaviors that are ‘normal’ or not?” The chapter shows how we have to consider people within social contexts, examining the behavior of those around them to evaluate themselves, and using their existing knowledge to ascribe meaning. It discusses the factors that pushed people to perceive their thoughts and/or behaviors as atypical. They did not always define what they were experiencing as negative, but eventually all but one interviewee perceived some of their thoughts or behaviors as problematic. They commonly hid what they were experiencing from others and struggled to explain these thoughts and behaviors; the meanings and causes they gave to them included religious explanations and believing it was just them, an aspect of their personality or self.

This chapter addresses the determinants of help-seeking behavior and methodological issues related to the assessment of needs for care. Help-seeking behavior is affected by (a) prior personal experiences in looking for assistance, (b) the social environment and the influence of significant others, and (c) the overall disease and treatment concepts of the individual. Approaches to intervention range from a general political level to more specific health care policy. Finally, strategies are discussed for improving the way in which mental health professionals can shape their personal relationships with patients and learn to respect their ideas about the causes of their disorder so as to include them in all treatment decisions. In mental health care, the relationship between patient and therapist is one of the most important treatment factors, serving as a reliable predictor of outcome, regardless of diagnosis, setting, or type of therapy used. Published in the Strungmann Forum Reports Series.

This chapter is based on the stories of 16 women residing in a domestic violence shelter in Kyrgyzstan. It examines the experiences of these women with regard to domestic violence and help-seeking, focusing on their strength and resilience in searching for ways to find safety, voice, and empowerment. The chapter deconstructs the myths and cultural biases that seem to encourage or support violence, and it discusses how cultural and societal beliefs influence this violence and serve as a deterrent to help-seeking. The chapter disentangles these different myths from the viewpoint of the status of daughter-in-law and the role of mother-in-law in the Kyrgyz society, and it discusses how traditional norms and attitudes are used to justify and perpetuate abuse. It presents women’s ideas for helping and empowering other women, their outlook and lessons learned, and discusses potential entry points and pathways for change.

The final chapter wraps up the stories told by survivors. It takes a holistic look at the stories overall and extracts the salient takeaway messages from the experiences. Taken as a whole, the stories of these eighteen transgender survivors of intimate partner violence yield several implications in moving toward trans inclusivity in theory, research, and the real world. By weaving in overviews of the stories, the chapter highlights how activists can challenge and shape existing resources. Trans-inclusive theorization and research as well as practical interventions are discussed. The chapter locates trans-specific realities and needs within the general avenues of help seeking.

This chapter examines domestic violence among immigrant Latina women, including prevalence and barriers to accessing services such as fear of deportation, lack of legal status, inability to speak English, and the challenges of separating from family members. Transnational elements for immigrant Latinas experiencing domestic violence is an important concept because of the implications in accessing services and support systems. In addition, help-seeking behaviors, barriers to reporting incidences of domestic violence, and understanding legal rights and services are discussed. Under the Violence Against Women’s Act, immigrant Latina women who lack legal status have legal rights in the United States and can apply for specific visas determining they were in a domestic violence–related relationship. Immigrant Latina women are also eligible to receive public benefits. Finally, an examination of domestic violence programs and interventions in community-based agencies is discussed, specifically, intervention programs for immigrant Latina women.

Chapter 5 tackles the next stage of the OCD “career,” more specifically, the shift from interviewees’ perceiving themselves as having a personality issue, spiritual problem, or some other type of difficulty to believing they a have mental disorder called “OCD.” Sometimes years passed between interviewees deciding they had a “problem” and their arriving at this label. Many happened upon information about OCD that led them to conclude they had the disorder, and some diagnosed themselves. This is partly the result of lack of information about OCD, including among healthcare professionals. This chapter reiterates how diagnosis is a double-edged sword, giving people with OCD an explanation for their thoughts and behaviors, but also labeling them with a disorder. Public perceptions of the disorder are now personal. The chapter uses the concept of stigma hierarchy to illustrate how all disorders are not perceived equally by the public. Because OCD is both stigmatized and trivialized, the chapter presents survey data from undergraduates to show how improving the public’s mental health literacy regarding OCD is tricky. Showing the public the potentially serious nature of the disorder may reduce trivialization but may inadvertently increase misunderstanding and stigma.

Chapter 2 reveals that teachers’ expectations for student problem-solving are not consistent. Instead, those expectations vary from activity to activity and even from moment to moment, and those variations have real implications for inequalities. There were times when teachers wanted students to acknowledge their struggles and proactively seek support (favoring middle-class strategies of influence), but there were also times when teachers wanted students to work through difficult problems on their own, times when they did not want to give extra credit or extra time, and times when they wanted students to wait patiently with their hands raised rather than approach them with requests (favoring working-class strategies of deference). Despite those variations, however, teachers rarely made their expectations explicit. That ambiguity left students to decode what teachers wanted in a given moment, and that decoding process led students to rely even more heavily on the class-based lessons they learned at home.