Influencing Help-Seeking Among People With Elevated Depressive Symptomatology

Abstract

Major depressive disorder is a treatable mental disorder that negatively affects all aspects of a people's lives (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). Unlike many physical illnesses in which help-seeking increases as severity intensifies, the more depressed people become, the less likely they are to seek help from family, friends, and mental-health professionals (Barney,

Positive Emotion Infusions: Can Savoring Increase Help‐Seeking Intentions among People with Depression?

“…The GHSQ likely considered this when the item indicating how likely someone would seek help from no one was added; however, it was rewritten for this study due to its negatively worded approach (Dillman, 2007). The GHSQ has been used in prior help-seeking studies among individuals with elevated depressive symptomatology (Lienemann & Siegel, 2018;Siegel et al, 2015), including one study on PEIs (Siegel & Thomson, 2016). Cusack, Deane, Wilson, and Ciarrochi (2006) have also found the GHSQ to be significantly correlated with both past and future help-seeking behaviors.…”

“…Siegel et al, 2017). Siegel, Lienemann, and Tan (2015) used a variation of the overheard communication technique (i.e. reducing counterargumentation by making a message appear to be overheard; Walster & Festinger, 1962) to create a depression public service announcement (D-PSA) that made the advertisement appear to target someone other than the receiver (i.e.…”

Differential Effects of High‐ and Low‐Arousal Positive Emotions on Help‐Seeking for Depression

“…In hopes of bypassing the depressogenic schemas of those with heightened depressive symptomatology (Clark et al, 1999), some scholars have turned to the persuasion and motivation literature to identify mechanisms to increase help‐seeking among people with heightened depressive symptomatology. For example, Siegel et al (2015) used a mistargeted messaging approach (e.g. "Do you know someone who is feeling distressed?”) that removed the self‐relevance of a depression advertisement to maximise the message's persuasive strength.…”

Communication strategies used by women to influence male partners to seek professional help for mental health problems: A qualitative study

“…There is some evidence that indirect communications are more effective than direct communications. Siegal, Linemann, and Tan () compared help‐seeking in those who received a communication targeted directly to them about seeking help for depression with those who received “mistargeted communications.” Mistargeted communication refers to the technique of leading the target of a message to believe the message is intended for someone else (e.g., “Do you know someone who fights depression?”) and the idea is that it is less likely to induce counter‐arguments to the message thereby making it more persuasive. They found that mistargeted communication about help‐seeking increased the likelihood of disclosure to partners and help‐seeking amongst those with heightened depressive symptoms.…”

“…There is some evidence that indirect communications are more effective than direct communications. Siegal, Linemann, and Tan (2014) compared help-seeking in those who received a communication targeted directly to them about seeking help for depression with those who received "mistargeted communications." Mistargeted communication refers to the technique of leading the target of a message to believe the message is intended for someone else (e.g., "Do you know someone who fights depression?")…”