Reducing stigma toward seeking mental health treatment among adolescents

PURPOSE: This study examined the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce explicit and implicit stigma-relevant attitudes toward mental illness and treatment-seeking and behavioural indicators of willingness to seek treatment. METHODS: Adolescents were randomly assigned to the experimental (education about mental illness and treatment involving psychoeducation and contact (via DVD) with an affected individual) or control intervention (education about tobacco). RESULTS: Findings suggest the stigma intervention was effective at reducing explicit but not implicit stigma-relevant attitudes. As hypothesized, participants receiving the experimental intervention reported less explicit stigma toward treatment and greater openness to personally seek treatment if they had also reported prior mental health treatment. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: These findings support the potential for a brief educational intervention among adolescents to reduce negative attitudes toward mental health treatment, but raise questions about how to effectively address implicit stigma as well as the importance of translating stigma reduction into behavior changes.