Analysis of public attitudes towards professional psychological help

Mentalno zdravlje bitan je segment ukupnog zdravlja pojedinca koji mu omogućuje da uspješno funkcionira, postavlja i ostvaruje ciljeve i svoje potencijale, održava zdrave odnose te time pridonosi i zajednici čiji je dio. Stoga je i za pojedinca i za društvo iznimno važna briga za mentalno zdravlje i traženje stručne psihološke pomoći ako je ono narušeno. Hoće li pojedinci potražiti tu pomoć ovisi i o njihovim stavovima. Cilj rada bio je ispitati stavove javnosti prema stručnoj psihološkoj pomoći. Za to je odabrana metoda ankete, provedena putem društvene mreže Facebook i platforme WhatsApp. Za istraživanje je korišten namjerni prigodni uzorak. Upitnik je ispunilo 174 ispitanika. Rezultati su pokazali da je gotovo polovica ispitanika primila stručnu psihološku pomoć, a da je samo njih 2 % nezadovoljno primljenom pomoći. Velika većina ispitanika potražila bi stručnu psihološku pomoć da osjećaju teže psihičke smetnje ili prolaze kroz teško životno razdoblje, a više od polovice ispitanika potražilo bi psihološko savjetovanje i da se osjeća dobro, ali želi raditi na svom osobnom razvoju. Da je danas društveno prihvatljivije govoriti o mentalnom zdravlju u odnosu na razdoblje od prije pet godina, smatra skoro 70 % ispitanika. Rezultati upućuju na to da većina ispitanika koristi ili bi koristila psihološku pomoć ako im treba, njome je zadovoljna i otvoreno govori o tome.Mental health is an important segment of an individual's overall health, which enables him/her to function successfully, set and achieve goals and his/her potential, maintain healthy relationships, and therefore contribute to the community he/she is a part of. For that reason, it is extremely important for both the individual and the society to take care of mental health and seek professional psychological help if it is impaired. Whether individuals seek psychological help also depends on their attitudes. The aim of the final work was to research the public's attitudes towards professional psychological help. The survey method was conducted via the social network Facebook and the WhatsApp platform. A purposeful convenience sample was used for the research and 174 respondents filled out the questionnaire. The results showed that almost half of the respondents received professional psychological help, and that only 2% of them were dissatisfied with the help they received. The vast majority of respondents would seek professional psychological help if they felt severe mental disorders or were going through a difficult life period, and more than half of the respondents would seek psychological counseling regardless of feeling well but wanted to work on their personal development. Almost 70% of respondents believe that it is more socially acceptable to talk about mental health today compared to five years ago. The results indicate that the majority of respondents use or would use psychological help if they needed it, are satisfied with it, and openly talk about it