Why this topic?
The mental health help-seeking study aims to understand how people make decisions about seeking help for emotional or personal problems, including who they turn to first and why. This research is important because rates of anxiety and depression are rising, but many people, especially young adults and those from minoritized backgrounds, may not seek help from traditional sources like mental health professionals.
We use a cross-sectional survey (we ask people questions just one time) to try to understand parts of their identity, their experience, and their preferences for seeking help for mental health concerns.
Why is this important?
- Identify which sources (e.g., friends, family, professionals) people are most likely to disclose mental health symptoms to
- Determine the order in which people prefer to seek help for personal/emotional concerns or suicidal thoughts
- Explore how factors like demographics, personality traits, and clinical symptoms influence help-seeking preferences
By understanding these patterns, we can develop more accessible and effective support systems that align with people’s preferences. This knowledge can help healthcare providers, policymakers, and community organizations better address the growing need for mental health support, especially among underserved populations.
Project Status
We have collected the data and concluded 2 projects.
1 – a project (PhD milestone) by Gracie Kelly on stigma and mental health help-seeking from different targets
2 – a project (honors thesis) by Kayleigh Fenton on identity, trust, and stigma among racial/ethnic minorities
If you are a George Mason Student interested in getting involved in research in the lab, please contact Dr. Tonge about openings for research assistants.
If you are a person interested in our results: we are currently submitting this work for publication. When accepted, we will provide summaries of our findings. Subscribe for updates below or leave a comment!
TIDL@GMU 