Increase Your Mental Health Literacy Knowledge

Increase Your Mental Health Literacy Knowledge GAD Coping Print Increase Your Mental Health Literacy Knowledge By Deborah R. Glasofer, PhD twitter linkedin Deborah Glasofer, PhD is a professor of clinical psychology and practitioner of cognitive behavioral therapy. Learn about our editorial policy Deborah R. Glasofer, PhD Updated on January 28, 2020 E+ / stuartbur / Getty Images More in GAD Coping Symptoms Diagnosis Treatment The term health literacy refers to knowledge and beliefs about health issues; higher health literacy translates into an improved ability to prevent, recognize, and manage health problems. Mental health literacy is a related concept, referring to knowledge, beliefs, and perceptions about mental disorders. Mental health literacy is an especially important topic when it comes to problems like mood and anxiety disorders. These two classes of disorders are amongst the most prevalent types of mental illness, and the most costly. Generalized Anxiety Disorder In the case of anxiety disorders like generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), people often delay seeking treatment. One study reported that while approximately 86% of individuals with GAD seek treatment at some point in their lifetime; only about one-third do so in the first year of onset. These delays can be linked for some to poorer outcomes, and in the case of young folks with anxiety, a worsening of symptoms from sub-clinical to clinical status. Delays in seeking treatment might be attributed to (1) stigma about mental illness, (2) poor access to resources for treatment, or (3) normalization of symptoms.  Fortunately, the stigma surrounding mental illness and their treatment is gradually improving (especially among young adults). In addition, changes to the US healthcare system are (slowly) improving access and coverage for care. However, normalization of symptoms â€" perceiving associated features of anxiety to be less problematic than they actually are â€" remains a complex problem to solve.  Because anxiety is a normal emotion and a biologically adaptive physical state to experience, it is very challenging to parse out garden variety, often-helpful anxiety from its more distressing and impairing clinical counterpart. Narrowing the Gap in Mental Health Literacy But a study published in the Journal of Public Mental Health on mental health literacy for anxiety disorders provides good evidence that narrowing the gap in mental health literacy for GAD is necessary. In this study, fictional vignettes depicting individuals with mild/subclinical, moderate, and severe cases of GAD, social anxiety disorder, and major depressive disorder were provided to 270 adults and two expert raters (who had extensive training in structured clinical interviews for anxiety disorders). The main findings of this study were: Non-experts perceived mild/subclinical and moderate cases of social anxiety disorder to be less severe than the expert raters.For GAD, significant underrating of severity by non-expert participants as compared to experts occurred at all levels â€" mild/subclinical, moderate, and severe.All severities of major depressive disorder were overrated by participants as compared to expert raters.  According to the study authors, this may mean that efforts to raise awareness about depression in the general public have been effective. The normalization of symptoms can manifest as a denial of their seriousness or lack of knowledge about markers of severity. In either case, improving knowledge about anxiety disorders and symptom severity could help.   To learn more about anxiety symptoms and severity: Read about some ways to distinguish between “normal” and excessive anxiety.Learn about the criteria for a specific anxiety problem, like GAD or social anxiety disorder.Screen yourself, or a family member, using online tools like those provided by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (take the specific quiz for GAD) or other reputable sources. These tools will serve you best if used in consultation with a discussion with your physician or mental health professional. Print out your results and bring them to discuss at your next appointment.Familiarize yourself with questions asked on popular self-report measures of anxiety, such as the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener -7 (GAD-7). These questions â€" and their answers â€" can provide a broad overview of concerning symptoms. To learn more about how they are scored and how to interpret the results, it is advisable to seek out a consultation with a health care provider.