Attitudes towards people with depression: effects on the public's help-seeking and outcome when experiencing common psychiatric symptoms

Objective: To determine whether people's attitudes towards a person who has experienced depression influence them in (i) the types of actions they tak e to help themselves if they experience common psychiatric symptoms, and (i i) the degree to which their symptoms improve. Method: A postal survey was carried out with 3109 adults to assess attitude s and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Attitudes were assessed by questi ons on a depressed person's likely long-term outcome in various areas of li fe and whether the respondents thought the depressed person was likely to e xperience discrimination. A follow-up survey was carried out 6 months later with 422 persons who had a high level of symptoms at baseline. These indiv iduals were asked about whether they had taken various actions to relieve t heir symptoms. Results: The attitude measures did not predict use of actions which involve d someone else having to know that the person had psychiatric symptoms, nor use of actions which did not. The attitude measures also did not predict c hange in anxiety and depression symptoms. Conclusions: The attitude measures did not predict patterns of help-seeking or outcome for people with common psychiatric symptoms. However, attitudes towards depression were quite benign and the situation could be different for people with severe mental disorders.