Hi Warrior,

I just wanted to quickly respond to your message. We ask questions about mental health not because we are biased against MAPs or to paint this community as a mentally unhealthy group or as "sick", as you say.
We in NO way assume or care to portray MAPs as not normal or that every MAP struggles with mental health issues. As you very eloquently point out, people who are minor-attracted (or are CLs or GLs or BLs) are well-educated, well-adjusted people.

The way I hope people see our survey, because it is the way that we look at it, is like this. As psychologists who are hoping to provide therapeutic services to MAPs, we need to understand much more about the issues that MAPs face and the consequences (emotional, interpersonal) associated with being a MAP. We understand that some MAPs do not want therapy and do not need it, but there are those who do; but improving the understanding of MAPs and the difficulties they face will further our ability to provide meaningful and helpful services to those who come to us for help. This survey is a step in that direction.

Our research will not capture every issue or interesting thing to study about being a MAP, nor will our survey be able to capture the variety in lived experience and the lives of MAPs. This is simply a limitation of any research project.

Best,

Ian.