The Power of Knowledge: How Mental Health Literacy Can Overcome Barriers to Seeking Help

Mental health literacy (MHL) predicts help-seeking attitudes. However, the relationship between components of MHL and help-seeking attitudes has not been thoroughly examined. This study aims to examine whether mental illness stigma, help-seeking efficacy, and maintenance of positive mental health mediated the relationship between recognition of mental disorders and help-seeking attitudes, using a meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) approach. A comprehensive literature search was conducted to gather relevant studies (111 articles with 118 independent samples), and their data (k = 185) were analyzed using MASEM. Reducing mental illness stigma or increasing help-seeking efficacy may be effective strategies for promoting help-seeking behaviors among individuals who recognize mental disorders, while the maintenance of positive mental health did not significantly mediate the relationship between recognition of mental disorders and help-seeking attitudes. These findings suggest that reducing stigma or increasing help-seeking efficacy may be an effective strategy for promoting help-seeking behaviors among individuals who can identify mental disorders. The use of MASEM in this study highlights the importance of integrating multiple studies to understand the complex relationship between MHL components and help-seeking attitudes.