Are attitudes towards mental health help-seeking associated with service use? Results from the European Study of Epidemiology of Mental Disorders

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate the prevailing attitudes towards mental health help-seeking in Europe, their correlates, and whether these attitudes are associated with actual service use for mental health problems.MethodData were derived from the European Study of Epidemiology of Mental Disorders, a survey representative of the adult population of six countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain (n = 8,796). The World Mental Health Composite International Diagnostic Interview was used to assess attitudes and DSM-IV diagnoses. The attitudes referred to beliefs that the respondents would seek professional help when faced with a serious emotional problem, would feel comfortable talking about personal problems with a professional, would not be embarrassed if friends knew about the professional help, and respondents’ perceived effectiveness of mental health care.ResultsAlmost a third of the respondents held the view that professional care was worse than or equal to no help when faced with serious emotional problems. Female gender, being younger than 65 years of age, high income, living in Spain or Italy, presence of mood disorder and previous service use were associated with at least two of the four assessed attitudes towards mental health help-seeking. All four attitudes were significantly associated with mental health care use, also after adjustment for previous service use.ConclusionThe low perceived effectiveness of professional care calls for serious action aiming to improve the visibility and credibility of the mental health care sector.

Investigating institutional abuse survivors’ help-seeking attitudes with the Inventory of Attitudes towards Seeking Mental Health Services

“…Mackenzie, Gekoski, & Knox, 2006; ten Have et al, 2010) and being Caucasian (Ward, Wiltshire, Detry, & Brown, 2013) was correlated with more favourable attitudes. Young adults were reported to have less positive attitudes towards seeking professional help than older adults (Gonzalez, Alegria, & Prihoda, 2005; Robb, Haley, Becker, Polivka, & Chwa, 2003).…”

“…A cross-temporal meta-analysis (1968–2008) showed that help-seeking attitudes changed in a disconcerting direction and became increasingly negative during the investigated period (Mackenzie et al, 2014). In a study on attitudes towards mental health service use in six European countries, ten Have et al (2010) reported that one-third of participants believed professional care for mental health problems was equitable to no help or even worse. These findings show that more effort is needed to investigate attitudes towards mental health service use, with the goal to better understand, predict, and facilitate individuals’ help-seeking for professional care.…”

“…Older adults have generally more positive attitudes, but they prefer physicians instead of specialized mental health services (James & Buttle, 2008; Mackenzie et al, 2006). A European epidemiological study of mental disorders reported that more positive attitudes towards mental health help-seeking were associated with being younger than 65 years (ten Have et al, 2010). This study did not find associations between educational levels and attitudes, while others did (Jagdeo, Cox, Stein, & Sareen, 2009; Riedel-Heller, Matschinger, & Angermeyer, 2005).…”

Beliefs and Attitudes Among Italian High School Students Toward People With Severe Mental Disorders

“…The students were also rather skeptical about the effectiveness of treatment or the chance of recovery for people with severe mental disorders. These misconceptions are rather common (Byrne, 1999;ten Have et al, 2010;Watson et al, 2005); medical and nursing students, too, were reported to hold the idea that people diagnosed with mental disorders are unlikely to recover and that they can be dangerous and violent (Aker et al, 2007;Llerena et al, 2002).…”

PROYECTO MAMÁFELIZ: Estudio sobre la Salud Mental prenatal a través de Internet

“…A estas barreras debemos añadir las relacionadas con las creencias sociales sobre la salud mental, dado que también tienen un gran impacto en la aceptabilidad de la atención integral, las preferencias y la aceptación del tratamiento (ten Have et al, 2010;Coppens et al 2013;Jorm et al, 2003). Mencionaremos a este respecto, el estigma social asociado a los trastornos mentales puesto que dificulta la búsqueda de tratamiento, lo cual junto a otras limitaciones como, el temor a que el profesional sanitario paute tratamiento farmacológico, la falta de conocimientos sobre si la sintomatología que la mujer experimenta es normal o no y el temor a que sus preocupaciones no sean tomadas en consideraciónse definen como factores determinantes a la hora de buscar ayuda (Dennis y Chung-Lee 2006;Flynn et al, 2010;Reay et al, 2011).…”