Utah youth suicide study: barriers to mental health treatment for adolescents.
Forty-nine suicide cases were drawn from an original sample of 151 consecutive youth suicide deaths. We used information from 270 interviews with parents and other survivors to evaluate mental health treatment sought for and by the decedent and barriers to mental health treatment. Participants reported the same primary barriers for the decedent: belief that nothing could help, seeking help is a sign of weakness or failure, reluctance to admit to having mental health problems, denial of problems, and too embarrassed to seek help. It is suggested that the stigma of mental illness is a considerable barrier to mental health treatment.
Moskos
Michelle A
MA
Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84158, USA.
Olson
Lenora
L
Halbern
Sarah R
SR
Gray
Doug
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013405:Suicide; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014589:Utah