Do Religious Fundamentalists Stigmatize the Use of Mental Health Treatment?

<p>The present study examined the extent to which high vs. low religious fundamentalists stigmatized others for seeking religious-based or secular-based mental health treatments. Additionally, the present study compared the extent to which high vs. low religious fundamentalists felt they would be stigmatized if they sought out religious-based or secular-based mental health treatments. College-aged participants completed a measure of religious fundamentalism. Participants also read a vignette in which “John” experienced depression and visited a religious official, a doctor, a therapist, or no one. Then, participants completed surveys measuring the extent that they stigmatized that person. They also completed measures of anticipated stigma for seeing a religious official, doctor, therapist, or no one for mental illness. The results revealed that participants rated John as more emotionally weak when he sought out any treatment than when he did not seek out treatment. Also, participants who scored high on the religious fundamentalism scale felt less anticipated stigma for seeking mental health treatment than those scoring lower on the scale. Fundamentalism and treatment type, together, did not predict stigmatization, perhaps due to the characteristics of the sample. Future directions include comparing how college students versus non-college students stigmatize the use of mental health treatment.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in Experimental Psychology (M.S.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2013

Author dc:creator

• Miller, Vanessa

Contributors dc:contributor

• Michael Nielsen
• Bryant Smalley

• ETD
• Religion
• Mental Health
• Treatment Seeking
• Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1098

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu:etd-1927