ArticleInternational journal of mental health systems2025
Barriers to 12-month treatment of common anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders in the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys.
Article in International journal of mental health systems, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Beyond symptom change: a qualitative descriptive study of reported quality of life experiences among adults prescribed medicinal cannabis for anxiety disorders.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2026Article
- Real-world use of large language models for mental health in 2024.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- Health system use and experience among people with poor mental health: A cross-sectional analysis of the People's Voice Survey in 18 countries.PLoS medicine · 2026Article
- Patterns and predictors of the transition between minimally adequate treatment and effective treatment coverage for mental disorders: results from the World Mental Health Survey.International journal of mental health systems · 2026Article
- Psychiatric health of Icelandic adults 40 years or older: A nationwide study of diagnoses, medications, and symptoms.PloS one · 2026Article
- Twelve-Month Use of Mental Health Services: Results from the World Mental Health Türkiye Survey.Turk psikiyatri dergisi = Turkish journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- Recruitment strategies and participant motivations in a digital randomized controlled trial for the prevention of anxiety disorders: the prevANS study.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Article
- Predictors and barriers to minimally adequate treatment among treated individuals with mental disorders: results from the World Mental Health Surveys.International journal of mental health systems · 2025Article
- Multi-label mental health classification in social media posts with multi-perspective prompt ensemble and auxiliary self-supervision.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder in the World Mental Health surveys.BMC medicine · 2025Article
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Abstract
backgroundHigh unmet need for treatment of mental disorders exists throughout the world. An understanding of barriers to treatment is needed to develop effective programs to address this problem.
methodsData on barriers were obtained from face-to-face interviews in 22 community surveys across 19 countries (n = 102,812 respondents aged ≥ 18 years, 57.7% female, median age [interquartile range]: 43 [31-57] years; 68.5% weighted average response rate) in the World Mental Health (WMH) surveys. We focus on the n = 5,136 respondents with 12-month DSM-IV anxiety, mood, or substance use disorders with perceived need for treatment. The n = 2,444 such respondents who did not receive treatment were asked about barriers to receiving treatment, whereas the n = 926 respondents who received treatment with a delay were asked about barriers leading to delays. Consistent with previous research, we distinguished five broad classes of barriers: low perceived disorder severity, two types of barriers in the domain of predisposing factors (beliefs/attitudes about treatment ineffectiveness and stigma) and two types in the domain of enabling factors (financial and nonfinancial). Baseline predictors of receiving treatment found in a prior report (i.e., comparing the n = 2,692 respondents who received treatment with the n = 2,444 who did not) were examined as predictors of barriers, while barriers were examined as mediators of associations between these predictors and treatment.
resultsMost respondents reported multiple barriers. Barriers among respondents who did not receive treatment included low perceived severity (52.9%), perceived treatment ineffectiveness (44.8%), nonfinancial (40.2%) and financial (32.9%) barriers in the domain of enabling factors, and stigma (20.6%). Barriers causing delays in treatment had a similar rank-order but were reported by higher proportions of respondents (X
conclusionsA wide range of barriers to treatment exist among people with mental disorders even after a need for treatment is acknowledged. Most such individuals have multiple barriers. These results have important implications for the design of programs to decrease unmet need for treatment of mental disorders.
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