Author: William Garry SharpPublisher:
ISBN: 9780549092780
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 123
Book Description
College students often fail to seek help for incipient symptoms of mental illness and/or substance abuse, despite the fact that the majority of these students fall in the age range where the likelihood of developing a mental disorder is among the highest. Cited factors for the increased incidence of mental illness among college students include biological and maturational changes, adjustments to new ways of living, and exposure to new peer group behavior and its contributing pressures. This increased risk, combined with the general reluctance to seek help, makes identifying strategies to increase help-seeking behavior among college students of prime importance. Research indicates that one means to modify help-seeking is by increasing an individual's "mental health literacy" (i.e. knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders which help in the recognition, management, and prevention of mental illness). Within the domain of mental health literacy, stigma (i.e. negative, inaccurate, or culturally conflicting opinions about mental illness), low treatment expectations and fearfulness, and lack of knowledge regarding treatment options appear critical to modifying an individual's willingness to seek help. The current study sought to assess the impact that a brief, 45-minute psychoeducational intervention had on student's attitudes toward seeking help and overt help-seeking behavior. The content of the intervention focused on dispelling myths and stigmas often associated with mental illness, modifying expectations about psychotherapy efficacy, and providing students with information regarding treatment options. One hundred and eighty-one college students were randomly assigned to a computer education, classroom education, or control condition. Compared to students in the control condition, participant in the classroom condition showed significant improvements in their attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help, as well as some of their opinions about mental illness, for up to one month following the intervention. A similar effect was not demonstrated in the computer group, suggesting that these improvements may be related to the method in which this information is presented. These finding suggest that the use of a brief, classroom-based mental health education program is a promising method to modify help-seeking attitudes and negative opinions of the mentally ill.