Men's perceived barriers to help seeking for depression: Longitudinal findings relative to symptom onset and duration

Men’s help seeking for depression continues to gain focussed research and clinical attention. In this study, 125 men (M = 39.02 years) provided data on perceived barriers to mental health help seeking, and self-reported depression at baseline, and 15 weeks. Longitudinal depression caseness was used to investigate group differences in perceived barriers to help seeking. Those experiencing unremitting depression reported the highest perceived help-seeking barriers. This finding was consistent over all domains of help-seeking barriers, and it was independent of previous mental health help-seeking efforts. Findings are discussed in the broader context of men’s mental health and health psychology