What Do African American Youth With a Mental Illness Think About Help-Seeking and Psychiatric Medication?: Origins of Stigmatizing Attitudes

Aims.To examine stigma- and knowledge-related barriers to help-seeking among members of the general population.Methods.In a representative survey of young to middle-aged Swiss adults (n = 8875), shame about a potential own mental illness, perceived knowledge about and satisfaction with one's mental health, psychiatric symptoms and attitudes towards help-seeking were assessed.Results.A latent profile analysis of all participants yielded two groups with different attitudes towards help-seeking. Relative to the majority, a one-in-four subgroup endorsed more negative attitudes towards seeking professional help, including psychiatric medication, and was characterized by more shame, less perceived knowledge, higher satisfaction with their mental health, younger age, male gender and lower education. Among participants with high symptom levels (n = 855), a third subgroup was reluctant to seek help in their private environment and characterized by high symptoms as well as low satisfaction with their mental health.Conclusions.Shame as an emotional proxy of self-stigma as well as poor subjective mental health literacy may be independent barriers to help-seeking. Interventions to increase mental health service use could focus on both variables and on those individuals with more negative views about professional help, in the general public as well as among people with a current mental illness.

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African American Men’s Beliefs About Mental Illness, Perceptions of Stigma, and Help-Seeking Barriers

The Counseling Psychologist ◽

10.1177/0011000012447824 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 41 (3) ◽

pp. 359-391 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Earlise C. Ward ◽

Doriane D. Besson

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

African American ◽

Help Seeking ◽

Illness Perceptions ◽

Beliefs About Mental Illness

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Barriers and facilitators to mental health help-seeking among African American youth and their families: A systematic review study

Children and Youth Services Review ◽

10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.04.001 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 101 ◽

pp. 190-200 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Arrianna M. Planey ◽

Shardé McNeil Smith ◽

Stephanie Moore ◽

Taylor D. Walker

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Systematic Review ◽

African American ◽

Help Seeking ◽

African American Youth ◽

Barriers And Facilitators ◽

Review Study

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Mental Health Stigma: Explicit and Implicit Attitudes of Canadian Undergraduate Students, Medical School Students, and Psychiatrists

The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1177/0706743718792193 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 64 (3) ◽

pp. 209-217 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Harman S. Sandhu ◽

Anish Arora ◽

Jennifer Brasch ◽

David L. Streiner

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Medical School ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Help Seeking ◽

Healthcare Providers ◽

Mental Health Stigma ◽

School Students ◽

People With Mental Illness ◽

Stigmatizing Attitudes ◽

Medical School Students

Objectives: To compare explicit and implicit stigmatizing attitudes towards mental illness among undergraduate students, medical school students, and psychiatrists, and to assess whether attitudes are associated with education level, exposure to, and personal experience with mental illness. Methods: Participants from McMaster University were recruited through email. Participants completed a web-based survey consisting of demographics; the Opening Minds Scale for Healthcare Providers (OMS-HC) 12-item survey, which measures explicit stigma; and an Implicit Association Test (IAT), measuring implicit bias toward physical illness (diabetes mellitus) or mental illness (schizophrenia). Results: A total of 538 people participated: undergraduate students ( n = 382), medical school students ( n = 118), and psychiatrists ( n = 38). Psychiatrists had significantly lower explicit and implicit stigma than undergraduate students and medical school students. Having been diagnosed with mental illness or having had a relationship with someone experiencing one was significantly associated with lower explicit stigma. Mean scores on the OMS-HC “disclosure/help-seeking” subscale were higher compared with the “attitudes towards people with mental illness” subscale. There was no correlation between the OMS-HC and IAT. Conclusions: These findings support the theory that increased education and experience with mental illness are associated with reduced stigma. Attitudes regarding disclosure/help-seeking were more stigmatizing than attitudes towards people with mental illness. The groups identified in this study can potentially benefit from anti-stigma campaigns that focus on reducing specific components of explicit, implicit, public and self-stigma.

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Knowledge, Attitudes and Perceptions about Mental Illness in Ekom Iman Community in Akwa Ibom State, South-South Nigeria

Asian Journal of Medicine and Health ◽

10.9734/ajmah/2019/v17i330164 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jombo, Henry Effiong ◽

Alphonsus Udo Idung ◽

Victory Edet Iyanam

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Mentally Ill ◽

Help Seeking ◽

Sampling Technique ◽

The South ◽

Causal Belief ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Poor Knowledge ◽

Help Seeking Behaviour ◽

Stigmatizing Attitudes

Knowledge and beliefs a community holds about mental illness, has remarkable impact on help seeking path to care and stigmatizing attitudes expressed towards the mentally ill. Aims: This study examines causal attributions, the perceptions and attitudes towards mental illness and the help seeking behaviour of a community in the south-south region of Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This is cross sectional descriptive study which was conducted among residents of Ekom Iman community in Akwa Ibom State in the South-South region of Nigeria between March, 2019 and July, 2019. Multistage sampling technique was employed to select the study participants. Causal belief, attitude toward mental illness and help seeking behaviour were assessed using a structured questionnaire. Results: A total of 130 respondents participated in the study. The average age of respondents was 31.62±8.2 years, consisting of 64.4% males and 35.6% females. Majority, 74.6% had secondary education. Poor knowledge of mental illness and stigmatizing attitudes are common. Most of the respondents prefer to keep a high social distance from the mentally ill and are unwilling to maintain close social contacts with them expressed as refusal to share a room (74.7%), marry (92.5%), keeping friendship with them (66.4%). Many believe psychoactive substance abuse (86.2%), brain illnesses/trauma (55.4%) and supernatural factors (72.6%) are etiologic to mental illness. Most respondents considered faith healers (64.3%) and orthodox medical professionals (30.8%) as first choices of treatment and the options best able to treat them. Conclusion: Causal beliefs of mental illness affects help seeking behavior. Poor knowledge and exposure to mental illness was common. Attitudes towards mental illness were generally negative and stigmatizing. Multidisciplinary community interventions are required to ensure high social acceptance and preference for orthodox professional treatment of mental illness.

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