Help-Seeking Stigma and Avoidance of Music Therapy Among Korean Young Adults: The Moderating Role of Mental Health Literacy

Music therapy is often presented as a less confrontational alternative to conventional verbal treatments. However, whether this positioning exempts it from mental health help-seeking stigma remains unknown. Drawing on spillover logic, this study proposes that stigma originating in the general domain of help-seeking extends to music therapy. Survey data were collected from 400 Korean young adults aged 18–29 years, and the proposed model was tested using structural equation modeling. Public stigma toward mental health help-seeking was positively associated with therapy-related anxiety and self-stigma of seeking psychological help, both of which were positively associated with avoidance intention of music therapy. Further analysis supported the indirect association between public stigma and avoidance intention through anxiety and self-stigma. Mental health literacy moderated the association between public stigma and self-stigma, but not the association between public stigma and therapy-related anxiety. Music therapy does not appear to escape general help-seeking stigma, although whether this association differs from that for conventional therapy remains to be tested. The dominant barrier in this sample was affective rather than self-evaluative. Implications for mental health literacy education and familiarization strategies are discussed.