The relation of treatment fearfulness and psychological service utilization: An overview.

Abstract

In an integrative review of the relevant literature, it is proposed that fears and concerns surrounding the seeking and consumption of mental health services can serve as a barrier to obtaining appropriate psychological help. The article gives an overview of potentially fear-evoking aspects of help seeking and consumption, reviews empirical literature that links treatment fears to service-seeking behavior, and provides an examination of person, population, and clinic variables that relate to specific aspects of various treatment fears. Approaches aimed at circumventing or reducing treatment fears in both the community and clinic are suggested.MATT G. KUSHNER received his MA from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1987. He is currently completing a predoctoral internship

The Role of Outcome Expectations and Attitudes on Decisions to Seek Professional Help.

“…The present study showed a relationship between certain psychological factors and future help seeking, which was an important first step; however, we did not assess how possible psychological factors change over time. Kushner and Sher (1991), specifically, suggested that people's positive and negative expectations about seeking treatment are not static but change in "nature, intensity, and effect" (p. 200) depending on where the person is in his or her decision making. This is an important direction, particularly given our finding that distress did not moderate the relationship between attitudes and intent.…”

“…Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) suggested that the importance of different outcome beliefs will change on the basis of the specific behavior of interest. Other researchers (i.e., Kushner & Sher, 1991) have also suggested that different psychological factors should be associated with intentions to seek help for different types of problems. Meissen, Warren, and Kendall (1996), for example, found that college students were differentially willing to seek help for different psychological problems.…”

Impact of acceptance and commitment therapy versus education on stigma toward people with psychological disorders

“…Mental health stigma is associated with treatment underutilization (Kushner & Sher, 1991), delay (Starr, Campbell, &and Herrick, 2002), and premature termination (Sirey , Bruce, Alexopoulos, Perokic, Raue, Friedman et al, 2001), in addition to other consequences (e.g., Corrigan & Penn, 1999) among stigmatized individuals with psychological disorders.…”

The Relation between Psychological Flexibility and Mental Health Stigma in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: A Preliminary Process Investigation

“…Mental health stigma is widespread, and it is linked to various negative outcomes on the stigmatized, such as unemployment, housing problems, substance use problems, and social adjustment (Link, 1987;Page, 1995;Penn & Martin, 1998;Perlick et al, 2001), as well as the underutilization of psychological services (Kushner & Sher, 1991), treatment delay (Scambler, 1998), and premature termination from treatment . In response to these negative consequences, various stigma-reduction programs have been developed (Corrigan & Penn, 1999).…”