ArticleSocial psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology2014
Attitudes and stigma in relation to help-seeking intentions for psychological problems in low and high suicide rate regions.
Article in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 164 citations in OpenAlex.
- Barriers and Facilitators of Psychological Help-Seeking of People With Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Symptoms Among ASEAN Countries: A Systematic Review.The International journal of social psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Usefulness of an educational lecture focusing on improvement in public awareness of and attitudes toward depression and its treatments.BMC health services research · 2017Trial
- Research protocol for a digital intervention to reduce stigma among males with a personal experience of suicide in the Australian farming community.BMC public health · 2016Trial
- Recovery from suicidality in youth aged 6 to 25: a review of 50 quantitative and qualitative studies.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Review
- Determinants of mental health help-seeking in Europe: a systematic review based on the behavioural model of health services use.International journal of mental health systems · 2026Review
- The status of suicide literacy and suicide stigma: their association with demographic factors among Iranian general population.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Exploring How Intent of Self-Harm Affects Trainee Healthcare Practitioners' Views, Attitudes and Clinical Decision-Making in Northwest England: A Qualitative Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Recruitment rates, retention rates, and follow-up completion in a Brief Intervention and Contact trial for suicidal behavior: a feasibility study.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2025Article
- Public mental health stigma and suicide rates across Europe.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- A cultural script for suicide among White men in the Mountain West Region of the United States.The American psychologist · 2025Review
- Sowing seeds of awareness: a cross-sectional analysis of mental health literacy and help-seeking in Irish farmers.Journal of occupational medicine and toxicology (London, England) · 2024Article
- Patterns and predictors of help-seeking intentions for suicidal ideation compared to other health conditions among rural Chinese adults.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Effectiveness of a mental health literacy module on stigma related mental health knowledge and behaviour among youth in two educational settings in Chennai, South India: A quasi-experimental study.Asian journal of psychiatry · 2024Article
- Understanding the needs and perspectives of young adults with recent suicidal ideation: insights for suicide prevention.Frontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry · 2024Article
- Are Parents the Key? How Parental Suicide Stigma and Suicide Literacy Affect Help-Seeking Attitudes and Intentions for their Child.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2023Article
- Help-Seeking Intentions for Depression from Mental Health Professionals Among Community-Dwelling Persons in Central China.Administration and policy in mental health · 2023Article
- An exploration of suicidal ideation and attempts, and care use and unmet need among suicide-ideators in a Belgian population study.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Defining the Characteristics of an e-Health Tool for Suicide Primary Prevention in the General Population: The StopBlues Case in France.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Review
- Examining the relationship between risky sexual behavior and suicidal thoughts among unmarried adolescents in India.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- The Roles of Endorsement and Stigma in Suicidal Ideation and Behavior among Chinese College Students.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeAccessibility and availability of mental health care services are necessary but not sufficient for people to seek help for psychological problems. Attitudes and stigma related to help seeking also determine help seeking intentions. The aim of this study is to investigate how cross-national differences in attitudes and stigma within the general population are related to professional and informal help seeking intentions in low and high suicide rate regions.
methodsBy means of a postal structured questionnaire, data of 2999 Dutch and Flemish respondents between 18 and 65 years were gathered. Attitudes toward help seeking, perceived stigma, self-stigma, shame and intention to seek help were assessed.
resultsPeople in the Netherlands, where suicide rates are low, have more positive attitudes toward help seeking and experience less self stigma and shame compared to the people in Flanders, where suicide rates are relatively high. These attitudinal factors predicted professional as well as informal help seeking intentions. Perceived stigma was negatively associated with informal help seeking. Shame was positively associated with higher intention to use psychotropic drugs and perceived stigma was negatively associated with the intention to seek help from a psychotherapist in Flanders but not in the Netherlands.
conclusionHelp seeking for psychological problems prevent these problems to aggravate and it is assumed to be a protective factor for suicide. Our results stress the importance of the promotion of positive attitudes and the reduction of stigma within the general population to facilitate help seeking from professional providers and informal networks. Focusing on these attitudinal factors is believed to be a key aspect of universal mental health and suicide prevention policies.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.