Mental health problems are a common issue among young people, yet many are reluctant to seek professional help due to a variety of obstacles. These can include difficulty recognizing that a problem is developing, difficulty seeing symptoms as a reason for seeking help, concern about stigma, social and cultural factors that make people feel ashamed to seek help, difficulty finding, choosing, or paying for the right help. In addition, there is a lack of available services, caused by a combination of a high demand for treatment and a low supply of trained professionals. Furthermore, disparities stem from a lack of diverse representation in the field of mental health, language barriers, and implicit biases.
It is important to understand the various barriers that prevent people from seeking mental health treatment in order to reduce them. Stigma and negative perceptions surrounding mental health and seeking help may explain why young people are reluctant to turn to others for help. Public, perceived and self-stigmatizing attitudes toward mental illness generate shame and fear of identifying with mental illness or seeking help in this regard. In addition, 21% of Americans intentionally lied to cover up the fact that they were seeking mental health services.
When looking at why cost is an obstacle for those seeking mental health treatment, one wonders if people with health insurance coverage are exempt. The lack of adequate insurance coverage for mental health services represents a fundamental obstacle to the treatment of mental disorders, including substance use disorders, which increase the risk of suicide. All of these barriers can act alone or together to deter minorities from accessing and using mental health care. It is essential to reduce these barriers in order to ensure that everyone has access to the mental health care they need. This could include an increase in knowledge about mental health and the services derived from seeking help early.
It is also important to create more diverse representation in the field of mental health and reduce language barriers. Finally, it is essential to reduce stigma surrounding mental health and seeking help in order to encourage more people to seek treatment. Overall, 35% of participants who reported having an emotional or mental health problem did not seek any formal or informal help. The thematic analysis revealed that stigmatizing beliefs, the difficulty in identifying or expressing concerns, the preference for self-sufficiency, and the difficulty in accessing help were the main obstacles among responders. At the U.
S. Department of Health and Human Services, one in five American adults has had a mental health problem, and one in 20 Americans lives with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression. For many, mental illness can be difficult to manage on their own. Access to mental health care is crucial to helping people receive the support they need to treat their illnesses. However, today more than half of adults with mental illness in the U.
(a total of 27 million people) don't get the mental health treatment they need. It is essential that we work together to reduce these barriers so that everyone can access the care they need.
