Attitudes of Canadian psychiatry residents if mentally ill: awareness, barriers to disclosure, and help-seeking preferences.
BACKGROUND
The medical culture is defined by mental illness stigma, non-disclosure, and avoidance of professional treatment. Little research has explored attitudes and help-seeking behaviors of psychiatry trainees if they were to become mentally ill.


METHODS
Psychiatry residents (n= 106) from training centres across Ontario, Canada completed a postal survey on their attitudes, barriers to disclosure, and help-seeking preferences in the context of hypothetically becoming mentally ill.


RESULTS
Thirty-three percent of respondents reported personal history of mental illness and the frequency of mental illness by year of training did not significantly differ. The most popular first contact for disclosure of mental illness was family and friends (n= 61, 57.5%). Frequent barriers to disclosure included career implications (n=39, 36.8%), stigma (n= 11, 10.4%), and professional standing (n= 15, 14.2%). Personal history of mental illness was the only factor associated with in-patient treatment choice, with those with history opting for more formal advice versus informal advice.


CONCLUSIONS
At the level of residency training, psychiatrists are reporting barriers to disclosure and help-seeking if they were to experience mental illness. A majority of psychiatry residents would only disclose to informal supports. Those with a history of mental illness would prefer formal treatment services over informal services.
Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University.
Tariq
T
Hassan
Department of Psychology, Queen's University.
Tanya
T
Tran
Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University.
Nam
N
Doan
Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University.
Mir
M
Mazhar
Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University.
Neeraj
N
Bajaj
Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University.
Tariq
T
Munshi
Institute of Psychology, University of Wolverhampton, UK.
Niall
N
Galbraith
Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University.
Dianne
D
Groll