Mental Health Help-Seeking in Mexico

Background and Purpose: Most people in need of mental health services in in Mexico do not seek formal support or professional services to address their mental health needs. Understanding help-seeking behaviors is crucial to addressing underutilized mental health services, yet most studies focus on sociodemographic correlates of help-seeking. Less is known about individual attitudes, associated with help-seeking, especially in Mexico where there is a high prevalence of mental health conditions and low levels of service utilization. Given historical, geographic, and cultural ties with the United States (U.S.), it is important to understand help-seeking in Mexico, which may relate directly to help seeking behaviors in many U.S. Latinos who have immigrated to the U.S.

Methods: Data was collected as part of a larger research project on stigma and help-seeking for mental health related concerns in Mexico. A convenience sample of 469 adults residing in Mexico City participated in the study using an experimental vignette methodology assessing stigma toward individuals with mental health conditions, along with characteristics and demographic correlates of help-seeking. Prior to data collection, this study received ethics approval from a University in Mexico and approval from the Institutional Review Board of an American University. A bilingual English/Spanish speaking research team, recruited from Mexico and trained jointly by faculty from Mexico and the U.S., street-recruited a convenience sample of participants from various public spaces in Mexico City (e.g., shopping malls, markets, churches, social service agencies, etc.). All survey measures were administered in Spanish.

Results: The mean age of participants was 37 years old (M = 37.28, SD = 14.31). The sample was almost evenly split on gender, with 293 (49.2%) identifying as female and 302 (50.8%) as male. Almost half of the participants (n = 267, 46.1%) indicated that they did not know anyone with a mental health problem. A structural regression was conducted for the outcome “openness to professional help seeking for mental health problems” as a latent variable. Compared with males, females were more open to professional help seeking (b=0.09, p=.038), as were people who endorsed higher spirituality (b=0.01, p=.006); while people who experienced self-stigma were less open to professional help-seeking for mental health concerns (b=-0.15, p=.005).

Conclusions and Implications: Self-stigma was a major driver of low service utilization. Contrary to prior studies, spirituality was a significant positive predictor of professional help-seeking. A more nuanced understanding of help-seeking in Mexico can be useful for outreach efforts to increase service utilization both in Mexico and among Latinos in the U.S. Given historical, geographic, and cultural ties with the U.S. it is important to understand help-seeking in Mexico, which may relate directly to help-seeking behaviors in many U.S. Latinos who have immigrated to the U.S.