Open AccessMental Illness Stigma, Help Seeking, and Public Health Programs
Author(s) -
Claire Henderson,
Sara EvansLacko,
Graham Thornicroft
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2012.301056
Subject(s) - mental illness , stigma (botany) , prejudice (legal term) , ignorance , psychiatry , mental health , social stigma , public health , help seeking , medicine , psychology , clinical psychology , family medicine , social psychology , nursing , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , philosophy , epistemology
Globally, more than 70% of people with mental illness receive no treatment from health care staff. Evidence suggests that factors increasing the likelihood of treatment avoidance or delay before presenting for care include (1) lack of knowledge to identify features of mental illnesses, (2) ignorance about how to access treatment, (3) prejudice against people who have mental illness, and (4) expectation of discrimination against people diagnosed with mental illness. In this article, we reviewed the evidence on whether large-scale anti-stigma campaigns could lead to increased levels of help seeking.