Do words matter? An examination of the words we use and the psychological help we seek
Public DepositedDespite the availability of evidence-based interventions for psychological disorders, many barriers exist for individuals seeking treatment. Stigma toward psychological help-seeking remains a salient barrier for many college students. Simultaneous to the changing perceptions of stigma over time, linguistic trends to describe psychological help-seeking have shifted to include terms such as therapy, counseling, mental health treatment, and behavioral health treatment. This study aimed to identify differences in stigma perception and psychological help-seeking, among college students (N = 224) based on terminology used to describe psychological help-seeking. Results revealed that public stigma predicted self-stigma toward help-seeking, and that individuals who had previously sought psychological help endorsed lower levels of self-stigma. Further, findings indicated that self-stigma and ethnicity predicted student’s reported history of psychological help-seeking. However, the prediction that differences in terminology predicted self-stigma of help-seeking was not supported. Further, results revealed no support for differences in likelihood of future help-seeking across different terminology conditions, while controlling for the measure of self-stigma. Self-stigma and ethnicity emerged as predictors of whether participants reported having sought psychological help, with Hispanic participants significantly less likely to report having sought psychological help. However, no differences in public or self-stigma perception toward help-seeking were found between Hispanic and non-Hispanic participants. This study lends support to other research that demonstrates public stigma predicts self-stigma and that experience with psychological help-seeking decreases self-stigmatizing attitudes about receiving help. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
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Schorr2025.pdf | 2025-07-22 | Public | Download |