Beat the Stigma: Distress Disclosure and Anticipated Benefits as Predictors of Attitude towards Seeking Psychological Help

Description

Page: 458-462

Bhoomika Kabra (Department of Psychology, IIS (Deemed to be University), Jaipur, Rajasthan)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the inter se relationship between the attitude towards seeking professional psychological help, distress disclosure and anticipated benefits. It also focused on predicting the variance in psychological openness, help-seeking propensity and indifference to stigma (dimensions of attitude towards seeking professional psychological help) on account of distress disclosure and anticipated benefits. The tools used in the study were Distress Disclosure Index (Kahn & Hessling, 2001), Anticipated Benefits sub-scale of Disclosure Expectations Scale (Westor & Vogel, 2003) and Inventory of Attitudes toward Seeking Mental Health Services (Mackenzie et al., 2004). The sample consisted of 150 emerging adults. The results revealed that distress disclosure had a positive and significant correlation with psychological openness (r = 0.198, p<0.05), help-seeking propensity (r = 0.212, p<0.01) and indifference to stigma (r = 0.211, p<0.01). It also indicated that anticipated benefits had a positive and significant correlation with psychological openness (r = 0.232, p<0.01), help-seeking propensity (r = 0.323, p<0.01) and indifference to stigma (r = 0.233, p<0.01). Regression analysis also revealed that distress disclosure and anticipated benefits accounted for 7.9%, 12.9% and 8.4% of variance respectively in psychological openness, help-seeking propensity and indifference to stigma. The study is of paramount importance since seeking professional psychological help is the need of the hour owing to an exponential increase in mental health issues. and understanding perceptions regarding the anticipated benefits and stigma related to mental health among emerging adults can contribute substantially towards seeking professional psychological help.