Understanding Mental Help-Seeking Attitude, Intentions, and Self-Stigma among Psychology and Non-Psychology College Students

Abstract

University students today face a lot of mental health issues due to academic pressure, social adjustment, and financial burdens. These stressors lead to stress, anxiety, and depression in students but often go unnoticed or dismissed by students. They instead turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms like alcohol, drugs, smoking, etc. to relieve stress instead of seeking help from professionals, as the stigma and taboos surrounding mental health and the fear of judgment in people prevent them from seeking help. The current study aims to understand the help-seeking attitude, intention, and self-stigma among psychology and non-psychology students. A sample of 60 (30 psychology and 30 non-psychology) university students aged 18-23 was taken from Mohali, Punjab. The standardized scale used was, The Mental Help Seeking Attitudes Scale (MHSAS) (Hammer et al., 2018) to assess the attitudes of individuals toward seeking help, The Mental Help- Seeking Intention Scale (MHSIS) (Hammer et al., 2013) was designed to evaluate an individual’s intention to seek help, The Self-Stigma Of Seeking Help Scale (SSOSH) (Vogel et al., 2006) was devised to understand the self-stigma individuals' experience when seeking help, and The Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help (ATSPPH) (Fischer et al., 1995) to measure the attitude towards seeking professional psychological help. The results revealed a significantly positive correlation between attitude and intention towards seeking help while a negative correlation exists between self-stigma and seeking professional help. The results also highlight no significant statistical difference in the likelihood of psychology and non-psychology students seeking help. This suggests that a student’s field of study had little influence on an individual’s possibility of seeking help. It may be helpful; to investigate factors like a support system, cultural background, and exposure to mental health issues.