Disseminating treatment for anxiety disorders: Step 1: Recognizing the problem as a precursor to seeking help
Abstract
Untreated mental illness is a substantial public health issue in the United States, with only approximately 1/3 of the estimated 46 million adults in the US with mental illness receiving treatment. Many of the individuals with mental illness suffer from excessive anxiety, as over 25% of Americans experience an anxiety disorder during their lifetime and most of these individuals remain untreated. Building from the premise that recognizing one's symptoms precedes requests for help, the current paper presents data from 577 adults (50% Caucasian, 50% African American) in the US regarding their ability to recognize anxiety disorders. Findings from a national survey showed that when presented with detailed vignettes portraying symptoms and their impact, 50% of respondents correctly recognized depression, whereas less than 20% correctly recognized the anxiety disorders. Recognition that the symptoms were a cause for concern was much more common, with 75% or more of the sample noting concern. Responses were surprisingly similar across the two races, and few consistent moderators were found. In conclusion, increasing recognition of anxiety disorders may be a useful first step toward increasing service utilization.
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Prominent SAD-specific barriers include poorer recognition of SAD as a mental disorder than other anxiety or mood disorders, and viewing SAD as an untreatable part of one's personality.
“Prominent SAD-specific barriers include poorer recognition of SAD as a mental disorder than other anxiety or mood disorders (Coles, Schubert, Heimberg, & Weiss, 2014), and viewing SAD as an untreatable part of one's personality (see Ruscio et al., 2008).”
From A Randomized Trial of Brief Online Interventions to Facilitate Treatment Seeking for Social Anxiety. (2022) · cites this paper as Coles et al., 2014
Poor recognition of SAD as a disorder and as a treatable condition, low awareness of effective treatments, very low rates of SAD-focused treatment seeking generally, and a median of 16 years before treatment among the minority who seek treatment for SAD render the passage-of-time explanation for treatment seeking steps unlikely.
“However, poor recognition of SAD as a disorder and as a treatable condition and low awareness of effective treatments (Coles et al., 2014;Ruscio et al., 2008), very low rates of SAD-focused treatment seeking generally (Iza et al., 2013), and among the minority who seek treatment for SAD, a median of 16 years before treatment (Wang et al., 2005a), renders this explanation unlikely.”
From A Randomized Trial of Brief Online Interventions to Facilitate Treatment Seeking for Social Anxiety. (2022) · cites this paper as Coles et al., 2014
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References 21 · Cited by 30
- Authors
- Coles, M. E., Schubert, J. R., Heimberg, R. G., & Weiss, B. D.
- Affiliations
- Binghamton University (US)
- Temple University (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- Corresponding author
- Coles, Meredith E.
- Venue
- Journal of Anxiety Disorders
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-12
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 737-740
- ISSN
- 0887-6185 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1985314400
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 5.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Anxiety Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (1 R21 MH082754-01A1)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Disorders
- Keywords
- anxiety disorders, symptom recognition, help-seeking, mental health service utilization, untreated mental illness, depression detection, racial differences, vignettes, public awareness of mental illness
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety Disorders, Mental Disorders, Black or African American, Depression, Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Interview, Psychological, Male, Middle Aged, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, United States, Logistic Models, White People, Health Literacy
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