Young adults face major barriers to seeking help from mental health services
Abstract
Objective Mental health problems often emerge in young adulthood. Although effective treatments are available, young adults are unlikely to seek professional help. This study examined barriers-to-care in young adults with serious internalizing or externalizing problems. Methods Population-based study among 2258 19-32-year olds in the south-west region of the Netherlands. Barriers-to-care were examined in participants with serious internalizing or externalizing problems who did not seek professional help. A potential barrier was that participants denied that they had mental health problems. In those admitting problems, barriers were assessed with the Barriers-to-Care checklist and analyzed with Latent Class Analysis. Results Of 362 participants with serious internalizing or externalizing problems 237 (65.5%) did not seek professional help. Of non-help-seeking young adults 36% denied having problems; additionally Latent Class Analysis revealed that 37% Perceived Problems as Self-Limiting (e.g., they believed that problems were not serious) and 24% Perceived Help-Seeking Negatively (e.g., they believed that treatment would not help). Conclusions Young adults' barriers-to-care reflect limitations in their knowledge of mental health problems and available treatments, but possibly also a failure of existing mental health services to engage young people. More knowledge is urgently needed about the effectiveness of mental health treatments for young adults specifically. Practice impl…
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Multiple treatment barriers in depression have been documented, including shortage of skilled therapists, long waiting lists, fear of stigma, lack of treatment motivation, negative appraisals of psychotherapy/psychopharmacotherapy, pessimistic expectancies, difficulty identifying symptoms, and time/financial constraints.
“Research has elucidated a number of treatment barriers in depression, which largely resemble those documented for other psychiatric disorders: shortage of skilled therapists (particularly in rural areas), long waiting lists, fear of stigma associated with mental illness and/or psychiatric treatment, lack of treatment motivation, fears and negative appraisals concerning psychotherapy and/or psychop”
From The more it is needed, the less it is wanted: Attitudes toward face-to-face intervention among depressed patients undergoing online treatment (2013) · cites this paper as [12]
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References 39 · Cited by 152
- Authors
- Vanheusden, K., Mulder, C. L., van der Ende, J., van Lenthe, F. J., Mackenbach, J. P., & Verhulst, F. C.
- Affiliations
- Erasmus MC (NL)
- Venue
- Patient Education and Counseling
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2008-10
- Volume
- 73
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 97-104
- ISSN
- 0738-3991 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2030135138
- Cited by
- 152
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 7.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Patient Education and Counseling (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychology and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Roles and Identity Studies
- Keywords
- barriers to care, help-seeking, young adults, mental health services, internalizing problems, externalizing problems, mental health literacy, help-seeking attitudes, treatment accessibility
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Mental Disorders, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Health Services Accessibility, Humans, Male, Mental Health Services, Netherlands, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Multivariate Analysis, Logistic Models
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