I am not going to mention a culture-related factor, but another factor. I think it is worth looking into this factor. It is a question of how an individual identifies a mental health problem in himself or herself.

I believe that a person will be less likely to seek healthcare if he or she self-identifies as "burned out" in contrast to self-identifying as depressed. See Bahlmann, J., Angermeyer, M. C., & Schomerus, G. (2013). Calling it “burnout” instead of “depression.” Psychiatrische Praxis, 40, 78–82. I am of the view—a minority view but one that has growing credibility—that burnout is a depressive syndrome. I think that individuals who self-identify as burned out think what they need is a vacation or respite. A respite helps temporarily but two to three weeks after returning to work symptoms are back to pre-respite levels. See Westman, M., & Etzion, D. (2001). The impact of vacation and job stress on burnout and absenteeism. Psychology & Health, 16, 595-606. 

People who identify themselves as depressed will be more likely to seek healthcare. If burnout is a depressive syndrome, as I think it is, then it is important that individuals who self-identify as burned out seek the appropriate care.

yes, these are in all cultures

Thanks, I am interested in Asian and Arab cultures. Any information about other cultures is welcomed.

I can see internal and external barriers to seeking professional psychological help among immigrant families (from collectivist cultures) in Western (individualist) cultures (e.g., the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, etc.).

Internal barriers among East Asians (i.e., Chinese, Japanese, Koreans) and individuals from other collectivist cultures (e.g., Latino Americans) can include:

• Stigma of mental illnesses.
• Their own cultural explanations of mental disorders (e.g., the imbalance of yin and yang, Karma, mainly genetical/biological factors, etc.) which are different from the Western ones.
• Familism (i.e., keep your family problems within the family).
• Lack of knowledge of the Western concepts of mental illnesses.
• Cultural and language barriers.
• Lack of transportation or financial means to access psychological help, etc.

External barriers can include:

• Psychological services that are foreign to them and they are therefore ego-dystonic.
• The goals and processes of psychological help are individualistic and go counter to their collectivist worldviews and values.
• A lack of culturally competent mental health professionals and services, etc.

Very nice and comprehensive answer. Thanks dear Stephen Cheung.

Dear Ahmad,

Thanks for your question and comments. I'd very much like to hear about factors from Arab, South Asian, African, European, and South American cultures, etc.

I will be happy to send you our research results as soon as they are ready. Best regards, Ahmad.

I'm looking forward to them. Thanks, Ahmad.

Negative stereotypes about persons with mental illness are pervasive in the media and popular culture

http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/3312971/television-viewing-habits-their-relationship-tolerance-toward-people-mental-illness

Thanks for the nice article dear Abdulqadir. Media.....A very interesting variable to be considered. 

Most welcome 

cultural backgrounds that are authoritarian oriented lead people to await for explicit direction and when this is not achieved the client perceives no help

I carried on a study, mainly descriptive in nature, on ASPH of pre-service teachers. Age was negatively interacting with ASPH. A general reluctance pattern was illustrated. Demographics, hometown development levels, income levels did not interact with ASPH in this urban university sample from Turkey. No statistically significant gender difference was found.

For future studies, perceived availability of mental health services would be an important variable.

Article Attitude towards seeking professional psychological help in ...

We are all hard-wired to experience joy, or pleasure. That is, the drive to experience happiness is a ubiquitous catalyst to motivated behavior. Commonly, those who decide to seek treatment do so b/c, on an intuitive level, they know happiness is absent in their day-to-day lives. The motivation of some, though, who see treatment is more externally derived. Loved ones, the courts, an employer, etc. may be pressuring a referral into therapy, with the first handful of meetings focused on their ambivalence over the need for/ their want of treatment.  

Dear Ahmad,

In Asian culture,

- seeking professional psychological help is a NO-NO attitude

- psychological help is tantamount to being labelled as mad

- unacceptable by the "closed" society standards

- ashamed over the labeling and euphemism thrown unto the patient

In Western culture,

- the patients are more often open and non-resistant towards seeking professional psychological help

- sees the help as the way to improve their mental health

- believes that it is better to be cured than to be isolated by the society

- disregard any mental labeling or euphemism

For both cultures, the insurance would not pay for mental disorder related illnesses. While the Asian culture resent the mental connotation, the Western culture sees it as the road to curing their "all-in-the-head" illnesses.

Best regards - Mariam

I am not going to mention a culture-related factor, but another factor. I think it is worth looking into this factor. It is a question of how an individual identifies a mental health problem in himself or herself.

I believe that a person will be less likely to seek healthcare if he or she self-identifies as "burned out" in contrast to self-identifying as depressed. See Bahlmann, J., Angermeyer, M. C., & Schomerus, G. (2013). Calling it “burnout” instead of “depression.” Psychiatrische Praxis, 40, 78–82. I am of the view—a minority view but one that has growing credibility—that burnout is a depressive syndrome. I think that individuals who self-identify as burned out think what they need is a vacation or respite. A respite helps temporarily but two to three weeks after returning to work symptoms are back to pre-respite levels. See Westman, M., & Etzion, D. (2001). The impact of vacation and job stress on burnout and absenteeism. Psychology & Health, 16, 595-606. 

People who identify themselves as depressed will be more likely to seek healthcare. If burnout is a depressive syndrome, as I think it is, then it is important that individuals who self-identify as burned out seek the appropriate care.

Very nice point of view dear Irvin Sam Schonfeld, thank you so much.

Thank you for all scholars who added their valuable answers. Regards, Ahmad.

 Dr. Rayan, you are dealing with a knotty question. I wish you luck in getting closer to the answer.

I have not done research on this topic but I'm happy to brainstorm here.  Cultural norms are important.  Here in the U.S., many citizens are individualistically driven as opposed to socially driven. I think the individualistic nature of my country causes isolation, which in turn increases the need for a professional therapist.  For people with stronger social units/families/communities, the need to turn to a professional for outside support would likely be smaller.  Additionally, in the U.S., a lot of citizens feel disenfranchised by the Church, a place where historically people probably received analogous help. In the U.S. and outside the U.S., when its spiritual leaders are trusted, I suspect people would turn to them before an unknown professional psychologist or counselor is sought. 

Amad, no he realizado investigaciones respecto del tema. Respondo por mi experiencia clínica. Los pacientes consultan por sí mismos cuando se encuentran con un problema en su vida al que no logran solucionar con sus respuestas habituales. Son los que mejor pronóstico tienen desde de la eficacia terapéutica. Luego están aquellos cuya consulta es indicada por psiquiatras o médicos quienes ante alguna problemática que evalúan tienen causas psicológicas. En los niños, en muchos casos por la escuela, la justicia, etc.

Lo cultural influye. En nuestro país, Argentina, el psicoanálisis y otras formas de tratamiento de las afecciones psicológicas están muy difundidas y las personas no tienen tantos prejuicios o temores por consultar con un profesional de la psicología. Las personas suelen diferenciar la ayuda que ofrece la religión, la medicina o la psicología.

Los medios suelen ayudar a difundir nuestras prácticas. 

Podemos ampliar nuestras respuestas a la luz de nuevas preguntas.

These factors strongly impact  persons attitudes toward seeking professional psychological services:

1. How peers/ family members perceive their experience with the mental health professional, this is very important and can be a  strong influence.  How the person describes his relationship and experience whether positive or negative can be the key to whether he agrees to receive service.

2. The myths surrounding the acquisition of mental heath.  I am African American and I know that receiving mental health services is taboo.  No one want to be labeled crazy and unable to manage their life and emotions.  The community frown upon getting help and seeking a cure.

3. Unavailability of mental health professionals that look like "you".  In the African American community there is a lack of professionals who share the same ethnicity.  

I hope this is helpful

Numerous factors likely influence an individual’s decision to seek professional assistance. These include a willingness to disclose problems, fear of stigma and embarrassment, lack of time for treatment, negative stereotypes of treatments, presence of comorbid medical problems, cultural factors, demographic and geographic variables. Other factors include an individual's perception that such treatment is likely to be of benefit (e.g., expectancy for change) and the financial costs associated with treatment. I am not familiar with much of the cross-cultural research on this topic, but certainly familial shame and stigma can play an important role, particularly in some cultures.

Hi my group has done some work in this area (eg http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20878852). In summary I would suggest that the main factors are broadly as follows:

1. Perception of having a current psychological/mental health problem (insight)

2. Degree of the psychological/mental health problem (severity)

3. Perception of likelihood of being helped (confidence)

4. Belief in the health care professional (trust)

5. Convenience in local resources (availability)

6. Influence of attitudes of society about mental health (stigma)

7. Encouragement by family and friends to get help (support)

8. Availability of competing resources (eg self-help / online)

hope that helps

Thank you so much, Mr. Mitchell.

A professional 'outside' view can help, because many people get deeply stucked into their psycho-mental states. A good professional can help to resolve the situation, e.g. in terms of learned optimism.

https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/learned-optimism/

Very interesting discussion