The moderating effect of self-stigma on the relationship between mental health seeking attitude and well-being

• Main Authors: Zalameda, Ciara, Marfa, Rex Adrian
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2020
• Subjects: Mental health promotion—Philippines; Filipinos—Mental health; Stigma (Social psychology); Mental and Social Health
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/8671
• Institution: De La Salle University

Despite the strong line of evidence suggesting that those who tend to seek mental health services are most likely to recover and eventually attain well-being , the effect of self-stigmatization leads to some people's refusal to avail of such services. Seeking help concerning mental health is beneficial, thus the efforts of various organizations and offices to promote the needed psychological assistance to address these concerns. In the Philippines, the Mental Health Program spearheaded by the Department of Health claims to promote the "wellness of all Filipinos," at the expense of "preventing mental psychosocial, and neurologic disorders, substance abuse and other forms of addiction, and reduce the burden of disease by improving access to quality care and recovery in order to attain the highest possible level of health to participate fully in society". In a study conducted by Slade and Schomerus & Angermeyer, mental health professionals are viewed as agents that could help increase societal well-being, that is because the competence that they have allowed individuals to be promoters of their personal health as they give assistance to those in need to gain personal freedom and acceptance which eventually enables them to be happier. This state of well-being however may be obstructed by the presence of self-stigmatization which is a worldwide known barrier to achieving optimal results as one tries to seek mental health assistance (Cheng, Mcdermott, & Lopez, 2015; Coleman, Stevelink, Hatch, Denny, & Greenberg, 2017; Goodwin, 2017; Picco et al., 2017). Thus, the current study aims to determine the moderating effect of self-stigma and seeking help on the interaction between mental health-seeking attitude and PERMA well-being.