Reducing barriers to psychotherapy via an online self-affirmation intervention

This research developed and tested online self-affirmation interventions to reduce psychological barriers associated with seeking help for mental health issues in two studies. There is evidence that reflecting on personal values (values-affirmation) and reflecting on close social relationships (social-affirmation) may both be effective approaches to eliciting self-affirmation—a psychological process that temporarily bolsters self-worth in order to forestall maladaptive, self-protective threat-responses. Study 1 (N = 384) experimentally examined the strategies of values-affirmation, social-affirmation, and type of help-seeking information presented to potential help-seekers. This study utilized a 2ÃÂ2ÃÂ2 factorial design with two self-affirmation manipulations (i.e., values-affirmation vs. no-affirmation and social-affirmation vs. no-affirmation), as well as an information manipulation (reassuring help-seeking information vs. standard help-seeking information). It was predicted that values-affirmation, social-affirmation and reassuring help-seeking information would (1) reduce threat-responses associated with reading the help-seeking information, and (2) increase positive help-seeking beliefs. Results indicated that values-affirmation and reassuring information both reduced negative affect and perceived help-seeking information threat, but did not affect time spent reading help-seeking information. Social-affirmation had no statistically significant effects on any dependent variable. No experimental manipulation directly increased positive help-seeking beliefs, but values-affirmation and reassuring information both had beneficial indirect effects on positive help-seeking beliefs, via reductions in threat and self-stigma. No main effects were found two weeks posttest, but a social-affirmationÃÂinformation interaction effect indicated that the combination of social-affirmation and standard information or no-affirmation and reassuring information was associated with decreased self-stigma two weeks after the manipulation. Study 2 tested the values-affirmation developed in Study 1 with an online sample of clinically distressed adults. Study 2 utilized a two-group between-subjects design with a sample from Amazon’s MTurk (N = 186). In contrast to Study 1, for more distressed adults, values-affirmation did not reduce threat-responses associated with reading the help-seeking information, but it did increase positive help-seeking beliefs. Overall, the combination of results in the present research suggests that values-affirmation and reassuring information about help-seeking might be effective approaches for eliciting self-affirmation online. Additionally, the salience of psychological distress and demographic characteristics may influence the outcome of self-affirmation interventions conducted to promote help-seeking. For those for whom distress is less salient, encouraging self-affirmation may reduce threat associated with relevant help-seeking information, but doing so may also decrease the urgency to seek help. In contrast, for those whose distress is more salient, encouraging self-affirmation may not directly reduce threat, but may enable more objective assessments of messages that encourage the benefits of seeking professional help for mental health concerns

The effect of self-affirmation on stigma associated with seeking psychological help

Even though there is evidence that psychotherapy is an effective means of helping people with mental health concerns, it is underutilized, largely because of the stigma surrounding mental disorders and psychological help. The main purpose of this study was to examine the effects of self-affirmation--the process of affirming important personal characteristics--on stigma and other proximal indicators of psychological help-seeking. It was hypothesized that when compared to a control group, a self-affirming group would demonstrate decreased self-stigma associated with seeking help. It was also posited that the self-affirming group would experience an increase in intentions to seek counseling, willingness to seek psychological help, and counseling-related information-seeking. Participants were 84 undergraduates from Iowa State University who had scored above a clinical cut-off, thereby approximating a clinically distressed population. Differences in outcome measures associated with psychological help-seeking were examined in the context of an experimental manipulation wherein participants completed one of two timed writing tasks; participants were randomly assigned to either a self-affirming writing task (self-affirmation), or a personally irrelevant writing task (control). Results partially supported the hypotheses. Compared to the control group, the self-affirmation condition had decreased self-stigma, but there were no other significant differences

Understanding Why Some Whistleblowers are Venerated and Others Vilified

Whistleblowers are individuals who witness a moral infraction committed within their organization and report this infraction publicly to hold the group accountable. Whistleblowers often face ridicule, vilification, and exclusion both within their group and sometimes within broader society. Thus, whistleblowers put themselves at personal risk to adhere to their moral code and protect others; these criteria commonly classify someone as a hero. We argue diverse reactions to whistleblowers are influenced by numerous situational factors that influence perceptions of a whistleblower’s intentions as well as the expected consequences of their whistleblowing. Whether a whistleblower is viewed as a virtuous reformer (i.e., hero) or a harmful dissident may depend partly on the degree to which individuals believe that there is a discrepancy between an organization’s lived values and their stated values. While whistleblowers ostensibly provide evidence that this discrepancy exists, cognitive dissonance processes may forestall acceptance of this evidence in many cases. Believing that one is affiliated with a corrupt organization—while one also believes that they are a good, moral and adequate person—may lead to uncomfortable experiences of dissonance. It may be easier for many to reduce this dissonance by disparaging or discounting whistleblowers, rather than altering their own actions (which may involve becoming a whistleblower themselves) to reflect their personal values

Why personal values matter:values, colorblindness, and social justice action orientation

The extent to which individuals prioritize different personal values may be conceptually linked to endorsement of racial colorblindness beliefs as well as orientation toward social justice. The present study examined how personal values predicted racial colorblindness and social justice action orientation in a sample of undergraduates (N = 325; Age, M = 20.38, SD = 2.78). Results supported the hypotheses: Self-transcendence and openness to change values predicted higher social justice action orientation, mediated by lower colorblindness beliefs, whereas self-enhancement and conservation values predicted lower social justice action orientation, mediated by higher colorblindness beliefs. Hence, motives that emphasize others’ well-being and openness to change may be linked to less racial colorblindness and a greater willingness to address social inequalities. To encourage social justice efforts, institutions and social networks may benefit from considering implicit and explicit messages that promote the well-being of others and the value of openness as opposed to values that prioritize individual status and prestige and maintaining the status quo.</p

Why do Adolescents Seek Online Mental Health Information?

Many adolescents avoid seeking psychological help despite the increasing prevalence of mental disorders. The current study investigated whether distress and stigma exhibit differential relationships to decisions to seek online mental health information among a sample of predominantly racial/ethnic minority U.S. adolescents. In this investigation, 174 adolescents (Age: M = 15.90, SD = 0.85, Range = 14−19) completed assessments of help-seeking stigma, psychological distress, and a question asking if they would like to view a website with mental health information. Distress was a statistically significant predictor of decisions to seek online mental health information, but stigma was not. Severely distressed boys were more likely to seek online information than severely distressed girls. Evidence-based online resources may be particularly effective ways to support distressed adolescents

Stigma of Seeking Psychological Services: Examining College Students Across Ten Countries/Regions

© Division of Counseling Psychology of the American Psychological Association. Stigma is an important barrier to seeking psychological services worldwide. Two types of stigma exist: public stigma and self-stigma. Scholars have argued that public stigma leads to self-stigma, and then self-stigma is the primary predictor of attitudes toward seeking psychological services. However, this assertion is largely limited to U.S. samples. The goal of this research was to provide a first step in understanding the relationship between public stigma, self-stigma, and attitudes toward seeking psychological services in international contexts (N = 3,276; Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Portugal, Romania, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and United States). Using structural equation modeling, we found that self-stigma mediated the relationship between public stigma and attitudes toward seeking services among college students in each country and region. However, differences in path strengths emphasize the need to pay attention to the role of public and self-stigma on attitudes toward seeking psychological services throughout the world

Emotional Disclosure and Emotion Change During an Expressive-Writing Task: Do Pronouns Matter?

Expressive writing is an effective way to facilitate the emotional recovery from a stressor, but little is known about how adopting a first-person versus third-person perspective while writing affects the disclosure and experience of emotion. The purpose of this study was to empirically examine whether using first-person versus third-person pronouns when describing a stressor leads to differences in the amounts of emotion words used and change in emotion from before the writing to after. Participants (N = 148) were randomly assigned to write about a stressor using either first-person pronouns or third-person pronouns. The content of these writing samples was analyzed via computer text analyses (i.e., anxiety, sadness, and anger words), and participants completed measures of the subjective experience of emotion both before and after the writing task (i.e., change in fear, sadness, and hostility). Path analysis indicated that adopting a third-person perspective led to lower use of anxiety words but heightened use of sadness words compared to the first-person writing perspective. Moreover, participants in the third-person writing condition experienced greater post-writing sadness than did participants in the first-person writing condition. These results suggest that manipulating pronoun use can have a clinical application to help individuals express and experience their emotions more fully

Effects of Pre-Exam Review Sessions Led by Undergraduate Teaching Assistants on Exam Performance

The current study examined effects of pre-exam review sessions led by undergraduate teaching assistants (UTAs) on 24 psychology undergraduates’ exam scores. To establish a baseline, exams 1 and 2 occurred before any pre-exam reviews. Two pre-exam review sessions, facilitated by two UTAs, occurred the nights before exam 3 and exam 4; in these sessions UTAs reviewed course material, displayed flashcards, and answered questions. Attending these sessions was associated with higher exam scores for both exam 3 and exam 4. Utilizing UTAs for certain academic interventions may benefit students enrolled in a course while also providing valuable teaching experience for UTAs