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Published Online: 1 June 2011

Knowledge and Attitudes as Predictors of Intentions to Seek Help for and Disclose a Mental Illness

Abstract

Objective:

Individuals often choose not to seek help for or disclose their mental illness. This study examined whether having more positive attitudes and more knowledge about mental illness could predict intentions to seek help from a general practitioner and to disclose a mental illness to friends and family members.

Methods:

A Department of Health survey in England assessed knowledge about mental illness, attitudes toward people with mental illness, and level of contact with someone with a mental illness among 1,751 adults representative of the general population.

Results:

With controls for social grade and race-ethnicity, intentions to seek help were predicted by better knowledge about mental illness, tolerance and support for community care of mental illness, and older age. Willingness to disclose one's mental illness was associated with better knowledge.

Conclusions:

Initiatives that increase knowledge and positive attitudes about mental illness among the general population may improve the extent to which individuals seek help for and disclose a mental illness. (Psychiatric Services 62:675–678, 2011)

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Table 1 Predictors of intentions to seek help for or disclose a mental illness in a sample of 1,751 adults in England

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Psychiatric Services
Go to Psychiatric Services
Cover: Hurricane Island, Vinalhaven, Maine, by Marsden Hartley, 1942. Oil on masonite, 30 × 39 15/16 inches. Gift of Mrs. Herbert Cameron Morris, 1943. Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Psychiatric Services
Pages: 675 - 678
PubMed: 21632739

History

Published online: 1 June 2011
Published in print: June 2011

Authors

Details

Nicolas Rüsch, M.D.
The authors are affiliated with Health Service and Population Research, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.
Dr. Rüsch is also affiliated with the Department of Social and General Psychiatry, Psychiatric University Hospital, Zürich, Switzerland.
Sara E. Evans-Lacko, Ph.D.
The authors are affiliated with Health Service and Population Research, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.
Claire Henderson, M.D., Ph.D.
The authors are affiliated with Health Service and Population Research, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.
Clare Flach, M.Sc.
The authors are affiliated with Health Service and Population Research, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.
Graham Thornicroft, M.D., Ph.D.
The authors are affiliated with Health Service and Population Research, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.

Notes

Send correspondence to Dr. Evans-Lacko, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, de Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, U.K. (e-mail: [email protected]).

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