In plain language
Most young people who struggle with depression, personal problems, or even suicidal thoughts never seek professional help — and young men are especially unlikely to. This landmark paper pulls together a multi-year Australian research program designed to understand why. Across a series of qualitative and quantitative studies in New South Wales, Queensland, and the ACT, the team gathered data from 2,721 young people aged 14 to 24, plus community “gatekeepers” such as teachers and family members who can connect young people to care.
The researchers proposed that seeking help is essentially a process of translating a deeply personal experience — psychological distress — into the interpersonal world, by becoming aware of the distress, finding words for it, and being willing to disclose it to someone else. Anything that blocks that translation acts as a barrier. The studies found that young people strongly prefer informal help (friends and family) over professional services, that girls seek help more than boys, and that a lack of emotional competence — difficulty identifying, describing, and managing emotions — is a key barrier, along with negative beliefs about help and fear of stigma and embarrassment.
One of the most striking findings was “help-negation”: as young people’s suicidal thoughts increase, their intentions to seek help actually decrease, meaning the young people most in need are the least likely to reach for support. The paper lays out what facilitates help-seeking — emotional competence, positive past experiences with services, mental health literacy, and supportive social networks — and has become a foundational reference for youth mental health service design.
Key findings
- Data were gathered from 2,721 young people aged 14–24 years across New South Wales, Queensland, and the ACT, using both qualitative and quantitative methods, plus input from community gatekeepers.
- Informal sources of help (friends and family) were preferred over formal professional sources at all ages and for both genders; girls were more likely to seek help, and low professional help-seeking was evident for both genders.
- The help-negation effect was replicated across high school and university samples: as suicidal ideation increased, intentions to seek help decreased — those most in need were least likely to seek support.
- Lack of emotional competence (difficulty being aware of, articulating, and disclosing distress) was a major barrier to seeking help from both formal and informal sources.
- Fear of stigma and embarrassment was high — young people often did not want peers to know they needed help, particularly for suicidal thoughts, and worried about upsetting family.
- Facilitators of help-seeking included emotional competence, positive past experience with services, mental health literacy, and supportive social influences.
How to cite
APA
Rickwood, D., Deane, F. P., Wilson, C. J., & Ciarrochi, J. (2005). Young people’s help-seeking for mental health problems. Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health, 4(3), 218–251. https://doi.org/10.5172/jamh.4.3.218
BibTeX
@article{rickwood2005young,
author = {Rickwood, Debra and Deane, Frank P. and Wilson, Coralie J. and Ciarrochi, Joseph},
title = {Young people's help-seeking for mental health problems},
journal = {Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health},
year = {2005},
volume = {4},
number = {3},
pages = {218--251},
doi = {10.5172/jamh.4.3.218}
}
Related work
- All publications by Joseph Ciarrochi (searchable, with free PDFs)
- Process-Based Therapy & Idionomic Analysis
Author: Joseph Ciarrochi (ORCID 0000-0003-0471-8100). Free copy hosted with permission for scholarly use. Please cite the published version via the DOI above.