Mental Health Literacy: A Review of What It Is and Why It Matters

Abstract

An increasing number of scholarly works have attempted to understand the reasons for poor rates of help-seeking for symptoms of mental health disorders all around the world. One particular body of work has focused on “mental health literacy” (MHL), defined as knowledge about mental health disorders that is associated with their recognition, management, and prevention. In this article, we report a nonsystematic review of studies on MHL, to give nonexpert academics, policymakers, and practitioners an understanding of the field. We find that studies consistently show that the general public have relatively poor recognition of the symptoms of mental health disorders and appear to emphasize self-help over traditional medical treatments. In addition, we find that there are age, gender, educational, urban−rural, and cross-cultural differences in MHL, which may differentially affect rates of help-seeking in different contexts. Implications and future directions for research are considered in conclusion.

Mental Health Literacy in Healthcare Students: An Expansion of the Mental Health Literacy Scale

“…The Help-Seeking Attitude subscale comprises items about attitudes toward seeking professional help for an individual's own psychological difficulties [47]; such attitudes have been reported to be a strong predictor of help-seeking intention and behavior [10][11][12]. The promotion of help-seeking for mental illness is essential for MHL research [83].…”

Educación Emocional en la Educación para la Salud: Cuestión de Salud Pública

“…En los últimos 25 años se han extendido internacionalmente y en paralelo, dos enfoques de potenciación de factores personales y ambientales que favorecen el bienestar personal y social. Por un lado, en el ámbito de la educación para la salud (EpS) se ha evolucionado desde una mayor atención a las causas de la enfermedad y la evitación de ésta (patogénesis) hacia la comprensión de las condiciones y los mecanismos que contribuyen a la promoción y el mantenimiento de la salud (salutogénesis) (Antonovsky, 1993;Bauer et al, 2019), incluyendo la educación en salud mental como área de interés de la EpS (Furnham y Swami, 2018). Por otro lado, en el ámbito de la psicología se ha producido un doble movimiento de regeneración.…”

Unmet mental health needs in the general population: perspectives of Belgian health and social care professionals

“…Our study confirms that attitudinal barriers and not recognizing a need for care play a major role in the development of UMHNs. Interventions focusing on mental health literacy and de-stigmatization of mental health problems may help to recognize needs and to overcome attitudinal barriers [6,11,35]. 'Worrisome care avoiders' were particularly mentioned in this context as a group with high UMHNs for which specialized outreach interventions are needed.…”