Subjective illness theories & help-seeking processes in families affected by parental mental illness

SummaryAims – Many people suffering from serious mental illness do not seek appropriate medical help. The stigma of mental illness has often been considered a potential cause for reluctance in seeking help. We review recent evidence on this topic. Methods – Narrative review of the recent literature on stigma and helpseeking for psychiatric disorders. Results – There is proof of a particular stigma attached to seeking help for a mental problem. Anticipated individual discrimination and discrimination qua self-stigmatisation are associated with a reduced readiness to seek professional help for mental disorders. Intervention studies show that destigmatisation may lead to increased readiness to seek professional help, but other aspects like knowledge about mental diseases seem to be at least as important. The belief that seeking help for a mental health problem is actually helpful has been shown to be at the core of help-seeking intentions and thus offers a promising target for information programmes. Population based time-trend studies show that public attitudes towards help-seeking have improved over the last decade. Discussion – The relationship between help-seeking intentions and actual help-seeking needs further exploration. While many studies have been able to relate attitudes to intentions, predicting actual help-seeking has proved more difficult.Declaration of Interest: None.

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Concerns about the children of psychiatric in-patients – what the parents say

Psychiatric Bulletin ◽

10.1192/pb.21.8.495 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 21 (8) ◽

pp. 495-497 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Fiona Stormont ◽

Tom Craig ◽

Zerrin Atakan ◽

Peter Loader ◽

Cindy Williams

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Illness ◽

Mental Health Services ◽

Health Services ◽

Research Literature ◽

Parental Mental Illness ◽

Adult Mental Health

There is an increasing body of research literature investigating the effects of parental mental illness on children. This study investigates the views of psychiatric in-patients on consequences of their admission to hospital and their mental illness for their children. The results suggest that the parents do not readily acknowledge that their children have problems, and that interventional approaches require good liaison between adult mental health services and child-focused agencies.

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Shame, perceived knowledge and satisfaction associated with mental health as predictors of attitude patterns towards help-seeking

Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences ◽

10.1017/s204579601300036x ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 177-187 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

N. Rüsch ◽

M. Müller ◽

V. Ajdacic-Gross ◽

S. Rodgers ◽

P.W. Corrigan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Illness ◽

Help Seeking ◽

Latent Profile Analysis ◽

Service Use ◽

Psychiatric Symptoms ◽

Mental Health Service Use ◽

Psychiatric Medication ◽

Perceived Knowledge ◽

Professional Help

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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Attitudes towards disclosing a mental illness: impact on quality of life and recovery

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology ◽

10.1007/s00127-021-02081-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lea Mayer ◽

Patrick W. Corrigan ◽

Daniela Eisheuer ◽

Nathalie Oexle ◽

Nicolas Rüsch

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Mental Illness ◽

Help Seeking ◽

Social Withdrawal ◽

Social Consequences ◽

People With Mental Illness ◽

High Internal Consistency ◽

Initial Support ◽

The Impact

Abstract Purpose The decision whether to disclose a mental illness has individual and social consequences. Secrecy may protect from stigma and discrimination while disclosure can increase social support and facilitate help-seeking. Therefore, disclosure decisions are a key reaction to stigma. The first aim of this study was to test a newly developed scale to measure disclosure attitudes, the Attitudes to Disclosure Questionnaire (AtDQ). The second aim was to examine the impact of attitudes towards disclosing a mental illness on quality of life and recovery. Methods Among 100 participants with mental illness, disclosure attitudes, quality of life, recovery, benefits of disclosure, secrecy, social withdrawal, self-stigma, and depressive symptoms were assessed at weeks 0, 3 and 6. Psychometric properties of the AtDQ were analysed. Longitudinal associations between disclosure attitudes at baseline and quality of life and recovery after 6 weeks were examined in linear regressions. Results The analyses of the AtDQ indicated one-factor solutions, high acceptability, high internal consistency, and good retest reliability for the total scale and the subscales as well as high construct validity of the total scale. Results provided initial support for sensitivity to change. More positive disclosure attitudes in general and in particular regarding to family at baseline predicted better quality of life and recovery after 6 weeks. Conclusion The current study provides initial support for the AtDQ as a useful measure of disclosure attitudes. Disclosing a mental illness, especially with respect to family, may improve quality of life and recovery of people with mental illness.

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