Why Don’t Young People Seek Help for Mental Illness? A Cross-Sectional Study in Greece

Abstract

Young adults are less likely to seek professional help even though they are most likely to experience mental health problems. The aim of the present study was to investigate young adults’ attitudes towards mental illness and self-stigma of help-seeking, identify possible determinants of attitudes and self-stigma, and examine the association between attitudes towards mental illness and self-stigma of help-seeking. The sample consisted of 485 Greek young adults (24.5% men, 75.5% women) aged 18–25 years (M = 19.54, SD = 1.83) who completed the Attitudes towards Severe Mental Illness (ASMI) and the Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale (SSOSH). The results indicated that Greek young adults hold mostly positive attitudes towards severe mental illness and help-seeking, while their unfavorable attitudes are mainly related to difficulties with viewing people with a severe mental disorder as similar to other people, and fear that by seeking professional help a person’s worth will be diminished. Gender, age, familiarity with mental health difficulties, education, and relationship status were found to be associated with young adults’ attitudes towards severe mental illness and self-stigma of help-seeking. Finally, stereotyping, pessimistic beliefs, and negative beliefs about coping with mental illness were identified as key determinants of self-stigma of help-seeking. These findings suggest a need for age- and gender-sensitive psychoeducational interventions specifically designed to promote young adults’ mental health literacy and to ameliorate unfavorable attitudes towards mental illness in order to increase help-seeking behavior.