Attitudes Toward Mental Health Help Seeking as Predictors of Future Help-Seeking Behavior and Use of Mental Health Treatments
OBJECTIVES:
The
study examined the association of attitudes toward mental health help seeking
and beliefs about the effectiveness of treatments with future help-seeking
behavior and use of specific services in the general population.
METHODS:
Data on
attitudes and beliefs at baseline were taken from the U.S. National Comorbidity
Survey (NCS), a general population survey conducted in 1990-1992. Help seeking
from various providers and use of psychiatric medications and counseling or
therapy were examined in the NCS follow-up, in which 5,001 of the original NCS
participants were reinterviewed in 2001-2003.
RESULTS:
Willingness
to seek professional help for a serious emotional problem and feeling
comfortable talking about personal problems with professionals were
significantly associated with future help seeking and treatment use. One-third
(33.4%) of participants who stated at baseline that they would "definitely
go" to a professional if they had a serious emotional problem sought
future help, compared with 20.7% of those who would "definitely not
go." Corresponding values were 33.4% and 24.4% for those who reported feeling
"very comfortable" and "not at all comfortable,"
respectively, talking about personal problems with a professional. The
associations were consistent among participants with and without a history of
help seeking and with and without mood, anxiety, or substance use disorders
during the follow-up. Embarrassment if friends found out and beliefs about
treatment effectiveness were not associated with future help seeking or service
use.
CONCLUSIONS:
Identification
of attitudinal factors most closely linked to future mental health help seeking
has potential implications for public mental health campaigns.
- 1Dr. Mojtabai is with the Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore (e-mail: rmojtab1@jhu.edu ). Dr. Evans-Lacko and Dr. Thornicroft are with the David Goldberg Centre, Department of Health Services and Population Research, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London, United Kingdom. Dr. Schomerus is with the Department of Psychiatry, Greifswald University, Stralsund, Germany.
- Psychiatr Serv. 2016 Feb 14:appips201500164.
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