Assessment of Public Stigma, Mental Health Literacy, and Help-Seeking Intentions Based on Different Dimensions of Obsessive–Compulsive Content: A Study of the Spanish Mental Health-Naïve Population

Abstract

Background

Obsessive–compulsive (OC) disorder is a debilitating disorder with a high delay in help-seeking that could be associated with two barriers that may differ between OC content dimensions: public stigma and mental health literacy.

Objectives

We aim to describe and analyze the differences among OC content dimensions in public stigma, social distance desire, mental health literacy, and help-seeking intention in a sample of the mental health-naïve population.

Methods

A total of 487 participants from the Spanish community with no previous knowledge of or experience with OCD were randomly allocated one of six vignettes describing a person with OC symptoms of one out of six contents (i.e., aggression/harm; sexual; religious/blasphemous/immoral; contamination/washing; doubts/checking; or superstition/symmetry/order). After reading the vignette, participants completed the following questionnaires associated with their vignette: Attribution Questionnaire, General Help-Seeking Questionnaire, Social Distance Scale, and Mental Health Literacy Questionnaire.

Results

There were significant differences among OC content dimensions on the variables of interest. Aggression/harm OC content was associated with the highest public stigma and discriminating desire, and together with the religious/blasphemous/immoral OC contents were associated with the highest social distance desire. Although no differences appear between contents on intention to seek for formal treatment, participants would request less informal support for their sexual OC content than for the other categories. Contamination, doubts/checking, and superstition/symmetry/order OC contents were more frequently identified as OCD, although only around 50% or less of the sample identified the sexual, superstition/symmetry/order, doubts/checking, and religious/blasphemous/immoral OC contents as a mental health problem.

Conclusions

Interventions to reduce stigma and increase help seeking are necessary and should consider OC heterogeneity.