부산대학교 도서관

Background: Prevalence of depression is growing in India, especially among adolescents, but often goes unrecognized and untreated. Lack of Mental Health Literacy is one of the reasons for the same. Aim: To assess Mental Health Literacy in school-going adolescents in terms of recognition of mental illness, etiology, management and personal stigma. Methods: The questionnaire consisted of a vignette of a person with depression followed by a series of questions to assess recognition of the disorder, help-seeking intentions, and beliefs about interventions, causes, risk factors, outcomes, methods of prevention and stigmatizing attitudes. Results: 354 adolescents participated in the study of which 83.6% correctly identified a depression vignette. 59.5% adolescents feel that depression is caused by external factors such as stressful life event, childhood hardship, breathing polluted air, alcohol or drug abuse. 26.1% feel that depression is caused due to personal reasons such as weak character, poor coping skills or due to god punishing past sins. 14.4% believe that depression is due to biological causes such as brain disease, chemical imbalance or genes. 28% of the adolescents were of the opinion that a psychologist/counsellor was the best form of help for someone with depression, 21.5% felt that family/friends were the best form of help. 6.2% thought that the best way to deal with the problem was to ignore it and hope that it goes away. The most common reason cited for not seeking help was that the subject was ashamed or uncomfortable about asking for help. Conclusion: The results presented in this paper reveal some lacunae in the mental health literacy of adolescents. This may be addressed through appropriate health promotion interventions to improve the knowledge, attitude and ultimately practices related to mental health disorders [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]