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Psychological Distress and Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Services Among Black Women: the Role of Past Mental Health Treatment

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Abstract

Black women are one of the most underserved and undertreated minority groups in the USA. While Black women generally do not seek professional psychological services to manage psychological distress, recent findings suggest an openness to mental health treatment as a form of self-care. This study investigated the relationship among symptoms of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress as a predictor of attitudes toward professional psychological help (i.e., psychological openness, help-seeking propensity, and indifference to stigma) in a sample of 205 Black women. We also examined if past mental health treatment (i.e., counseling or therapy) moderated these relationships. Results indicated that symptoms of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress were all negatively associated with help-seeking propensity and indifference to stigma. Only symptoms of post-traumatic stress were negatively associated with psychological openness. Findings also demonstrated that past mental health treatment moderated the relationship among depressive symptoms and help-seeking propensity and indifference to stigma, respectively. Specifically, as depressive symptoms increased, help-seeking propensity significantly decreased among participants who had not reported past mental health treatment. Additionally, indifference to stigma decreased with increased symptoms of depression, though the decline in indifference to stigma was greater among those who did not report past mental health treatment. We also found similar results for symptoms of post-traumatic stress with regard to indifference to stigma. Findings suggest that Black women’s past mental health treatment may be relevant to understanding attitudes toward seeking professional psychological services when experiencing high psychological distress.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Dr. Esteban V. Cardemil of the Mental Health, Culture, and Community Research Program at Clark University for his continued support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Frances L. Hiatt School of Psychology, Clark University, Worcester, MA, USA

    Tamara Nelson

  2. Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, 311 N., Fifth Street, Camden, NJ, 08102, USA

    Tamara Nelson

  3. Psychosocial Research Program, Butler Hospital, Providence, RI, USA

    Samantha C. Ernst

  4. Walden Behavioral Health Care, Newton, MA, USA

    Samantha C. Ernst

  5. Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

    Camila Tirado & Oswaldo Moreno

  6. Bentley University, Waltham, MA, USA

    Jared L. Fisse

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  1. Tamara Nelson
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  2. Samantha C. Ernst
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  3. Camila Tirado
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  4. Jared L. Fisse
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  5. Oswaldo Moreno
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Contributions

Tamara Nelson (lead author: conceptualization, investigation, formal analysis, and writing); Samantha C. Ernst (second author, formal analysis, and writing); Camila Tirado (third author, writing); Jared L. Fisse (fourth author: data curation, and formal analysis); and Oswaldo Moreno (senior author, conceptualization, supervision, and writing)

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Correspondence to Tamara Nelson.

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All research described herein has been conducted according to the American Psychological Association’s ethical guidelines and has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of Clark University (IRB No # 2016-008). Informed consent was obtained from all participants in this study.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nelson, T., Ernst, S.C., Tirado, C. et al. Psychological Distress and Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Services Among Black Women: the Role of Past Mental Health Treatment. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 9, 527–537 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-021-00983-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-021-00983-z

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