Factors Affecting Help-seeking During Depression in a Community Sample

Little is known about factors that influence community residents to seek professional help while experiencing diagnosable episodes of depression. The present study utilized longitudinal data from 96 female subjects to examine whether clinical and psychosocial features of a recent depressive episode, as well as preexisting psychiatric and psychosocial characteristics, could distinguish between individuals who (a) did and did not seek help during their episode and (b) chose to consult one professional source rather than another. Results showed that less than half of the sample sought professional help. Few variables could distinguish subjects who sought help from those who did not. Instead, subjects consulting mental health specialists were more clinically impaired and had fewer psychosocial assets than both those consulting nonpsychiatric physicians and those seeking no help. Subjects in the latter two groups were indistinguishable from one another on the assessed variables. Results were cross-validated with a smaller sample of male community residents.