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ARTICLE NAME:
“Seeking help for psychological distress: Barriers for mental health
professionals”
SUMMARY:
In this article, the primary aim of this article’s study was to gain an initial understanding
of the attitudes of Australian mental health professionals towards seeking help for mental health
problems and the barriers that may prevent them from accessing treatment. This study
investigated perceived barriers to disclosure and help-seeking within this population.
The mental health of Australian mental health professionals, including their attitudes and
behaviors towards seeking help when distressed is an important area of research which, to date,
has received limited attention. This article’s study has provided important preliminary
information about the attitudes of mental health professionals and perceived barriers to seeking
help when distressed. Mental health remains the focus of anti-stigma campaigns and mental
health literacy is promoted in the broader community. However, if campaigns to combat stigma
and improve mental health literacy in the broader community are to have any credibility, it is
essential that mental health professionals apply to themselves the same standards with regards to
help seeking at times of psychological distress that they promote their clients and the
community.
Mental health care is a demanding profession with high rates of stress and burnout. There
is a general reluctance amongst mental health professionals to disclose personal mental illness to
colleagues or to seek formal mental health treatment. Mental health professionals can display
stigma and other negative attitudes towards mental illness despite high mental health literacy
The findings of this article’s result provide initial evidence that despite good mental
health literacy, and personal experience with mental illness, significant barriers exist for mental
health professionals seeking help for mental health conditions. Education around mandatory
reporting requirements may help to improve help-seeking behavior. Results from this article’s
study found that approximately 40% of the sample had experienced a mental illness at some
point in their life and the majority of participants (89%) of this article’s study would seek help if
they were distressed, 57% acknowledged that there had been a time when they would have
benefited from seeking help but had not done so. Reported barriers to seeking help included
wanting to solve the problem on their own, fear about colleagues finding out, and the potential
for negative consequences relating to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency’s
mandatory reporting requirement.

Thank You.