Role of stigma and attitudes toward help-seeking from a general practitioner for mental health problems in a rural town
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 39 (6):
514--521 (June 2005)DOI: 10.1111/j.1440-1614.2005.01612.x
Abstract
Objective: To examine the role of perceived stigma and attitudes to seeking care in predicting help-seeking from a general practitioner (GP) for mental health problems. Method: A cross-sectional survey in 2002 with self-report questionnaires assessing current levels of symptomatology, disability, attitudes towards mental illness, knowledge of prevalence and causes of mental illness, contact with mental illness and help-seeking behaviour and preferences and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Results: No significant relationship was found between symptom measures and measures of disability and help-seeking. Variables positively associated with general attitudes to seeking professional psychological help were: lower perceived stigma, and biological rather than person-based causal attributions for schizophrenia. Willingness to discuss mental health issues with a GP was predicted by the perceived helpfulness of the GP and by no other variable. Conclusions: Causal attributions and perceived stigma rather than participants' levels of symptomatology and disability influence attitudes to help-seeking for mental health issues. Efforts to improve attitudes to help-seeking should focus on reducing stigma and improving mental health literacy regarding the causes of disorders.