Susanne Stolzenburg|Simone Freitag|Sara Evans?Lacko|Sven Speerforck|Silke Schmidt|Georg Schomerus
Individuals with currently untreated mental illness: causal beliefs and readiness to seek help
Greifswald University Hospital|Greifswald University Hospital|London School of Economics and Political Science|Greifswald University Hospital|Greifswald University Hospital|Greifswald University Hospital
many people mental illness seek professional help beliefs causes current health problem seem relevant initiating treatment aim find extent perceived causes current untreated mental health problems determine whether person considers herselfhimself mental illness perceives need professional help plans seek help near futurein crosssectional study examined 207 untreated persons depressive syndrome fulfilling criteria current mental illness confirmed structured diagnostic interview mini international neuropsychiatric interview sample recruited community using adverts flyers social media elicited causal explanations present problem depression literacy selfidentification mental illness perceived need professional help helpseeking intentions severity depressive symptoms patient health questionnaire depression whether respondents previously sought mental healthcaremost participants fulfilled diagnostic criteria mood disorder n 181 874 andor neurotic stressrelated somatoform disorders n 120 580 according icd10 n 94 454 participants never received mental health treatment previously exploratory factor analysis list 25 different causal explanations resulted five factors biomedical causes personrelated causes childhood trauma current stress unhealthy behaviour attributing present problem biomedical causes personrelated causes childhood trauma stress associated stronger selfidentification mental illness persons never received mental health treatment previously attribution biomedical causes related greater perceived need stronger helpseeking intentions treatment experience lower attribution personrelated causes stress related greater perceived need professional helpwhile several causal explanations associated selfidentification mental illness biomedical attributions seem related increase perceived need helpseeking intentions especially individuals treatment experiences longitudinal studies investigating causal beliefs helpseeking needed find causal attributions guide helpseeking behaviour study seems possible portraying professional mental health treatment restricted biomedical problems would contribute closing treatment gap mental disorders