Mental Health Treatment Seeking Among Older Adults With Depression:

Stigma associated with mental illness continues to be a significant barrier to help seeking. This book examines the impact of stigma on racial differences in treatment seeking attitudes and behaviors among older adults with depression. Findings indicate that older adults with depression have high levels of public stigma and do not intend to seek, nor are they currently engaged in mental health treatment. Findings also suggest that African American older adults endorse higher internalized stigma and less positive attitudes toward seeking mental health treatment than their white counterparts. Older African Americans identified a number of experiences living in the black community that impacted their treatment seeking attitudes and behaviors, which led to their identification and utilization of more culturally endorsed coping strategies to deal with their depression. This book provides an in depth understanding of the stigma associated with having a mental illness and its'' influence on attitudes and intentions toward seeking mental health services among older adults, particularly African American elders.