Stigma about depression and its impact on help-seeking intentions

Date

2006

Authors

Barney, Lisa
Griffiths, Kathleen
Jorm, Anthony F
Christensen, Helen

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Abstract

Objective: Research has shown that people are reluctant to seek professional help for depression, especially from mental health professionals. This may be because of the impact of stigma which can involve people's own responses to depression and help-seeking (self stigma) as well as their perceptions of others' negative responses (perceived stigma). The aim of this article was to examine community help-seeking intentions and stigmatizing beliefs associated with depression. Method: A total of 1312 adults randomly sampled from the Australian community completed a questionnaire providing a depression vignette and measures of self and perceived-stigmatizing responses, source-specific help-seeking intentions, current depressive symptoms and depression experience, and demographics. Results: Many people reported they would feel embarrassed about seeking help from professionals, and believed that other people would have a negative reaction to them if they sought such help. Some expected professionals to respond negatively to them. Responses varied according to the sources of professional help. Self-embarrassment and expectations that others would respond negatively predicted the likelihood of help-seeking from professional sources. Conclusion: Self- and perceived-stigmatizing responses to help-seeking for depression are prevalent in the community and are associated with reluctance to seek professional help. Interventions should focus on minimizing expectations of negative responses from others and negative self-responses to help-seeking, and should target younger people.

Description

Keywords

Keywords: adult; aged; article; Australia; controlled study; demography; depression; disease association; expectation; experience; female; health personnel attitude; help seeking behavior; human; human relation; male; medical research; mental health care personnel; Attitudes; Depression; Help-seeking; Stigma

Citation

Source

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry

Type

Journal article

Book Title

Entity type

Access Statement

License Rights

Restricted until

2037-12-31
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