Daniel J. Paulus|Lauren P. Wadsworth|Sarah A. Hayes?Skelton
Mental health literacy for anxiety disorders: how perceptions of symptom severity might relate to recognition of psychological distress
University of Massachusetts Boston|University of Massachusetts Boston|University of Massachusetts Boston
improving mental health literacy important consideration promoting expedient effective treatment seeking psychological disorders low recognition serves barrier treatment coles coleman 2010 article examines recognition lay individuals severity three psychological disorders social anxiety generalized anxiety major depression using dimensional approachvignettes mildsubclinical moderate severe cases disorder rated severity team expert assessors 270 participants mean age 268 767 womendifference ratings calculated comparing participants responses scores assessors withingroups factorial anova lsd followup performed examine effects diagnosis severity difference ratings main effects diagnosis f2 5363526 mse124 severity f2 536944 mse193 interaction significant f4 10721370 mse113 ps 0001 social anxiety cases underrated mildsubclinical moderate cases generalized anxiety cases underrated three severities major depression cases overrated three severitiesjudgments severity may underlie low recognition rates social anxiety disorder generalized anxiety disorder future efforts focus improved recognition education regarding anxiety disorders population particularly become severethis project demonstrates importance considering judgments symptom severity continuum range cases rather ability correctly label symptoms determining whether people recognize psychological disorders