Abstract
People typically delay many years after developing OCD before they seek help. Factors linked to the decision whether to seek treatment have been identified. Decision-making literature suggests that outcomes of decision making are related to the factors which form the focus of attention and awareness. We evaluated whether focussing on enablers for treatment seeking has an impact on predictions of key treatment seeking behaviours in community controls, examining the likelihood of hypothetically seeking treatment. Participants (125) completed a focussing intervention where they were asked to rate how likely they would be to seek help before and after reading and rating for self-applicability specific information designed to focus their attention either on (a) ‘enabler’ factors taken from previous research or (b) on general information about OCD and its treatment.Findings indicated that focussing on either type of information increased the likelihood of hypothetically seeking treatment, with the enabler information facilitating greater increases in the likelihood of active treatment seeking.Health education efforts for those delaying seeking help for mental health difficulties such as OCD may benefit from more specific attention to increasing the salience of treatment enablers as well as problem specific information.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
