Majority refuse treatment because they do not believe they are sick

 

It is commonly claimed that “if you make the psychiatric services attractive enough and culturally relevant, then individuals with serious mental illnesses will utilize them.”  This appears to not be true.

 

A recent study reported results of interviews with individuals with serious mental illnesses to ascertain why they were not receiving treatment.

 

The majority --- 55 percent --- denied that they had any problem.  Thus, they had limited awareness of their illness, also called agnosia; this lack of awareness is known to be caused by changes in the frontal lobe and other areas of the brain due to the disease process. 

 

The majority --- 55 percent --- denied that they had any problem.

 

 

The remaining 45 percent who acknowledged that they needed treatment (and thus had awareness of their illness) but still were not receiving treatment cited many reasons for this. These included (respondent could check several reasons):

REASONS FOR NOT SEEKING TREATMENT:

32%  “wanted to solve problem on own”

27%  “thought the problem would get better by itself”

20%  “too expensive”

18%  “unsure about where to go for help” 

17%  “help probably would not do any good”

16%  “health insurance would not cover treatment”

OTHER REASONS WERE CITED MUCH LESS FREQUENTLY:

7%  “scared about hospitalization against own will”

6%  “concerned about what others might think”

5%  “not satisfied with available services”

1%  “Could not get an appointment”

0%  “language problem”

 

This study thus contradicts claims that many individuals with serious mental illnesses do not seek treatment because of fears of involuntary hospitalization, stigma, or dissatisfaction with available services. Very few individuals cited “not satisfied with available services,” “could not get appointment,” language problem,” etc., as a reason why they were not in treatment. 

 

The greatest reason for non-treatment by far was the person’s lack of awareness of their illness. Such individuals will not voluntarily utilize psychiatric services, no matter how attractive those services are, because they do not believe that they have an illness.

 

_Treatment Advocacy Center’s Catalyst, Summer/Fall 2002