APPLICANTS EXPERIENCE OF THE PROCESS OF SEEKING THERAPY

This study assessed the process of seeking psychotherapy, conceptualized as four steps: recognizing the problem; deciding therapy might help; deciding to seek therapy; and contacting the mental health system. The Process of Seeking Therapy Questionnaire (PSTQ) was completed by 275 therapy applicants. It ascertained problem duration, alternative coping strategies, difficulty achieving and time needed to achieve the steps, and whether the applicant had informal help achieving the steps. Results indicated that problems tended to be long-standing, that therapy applicants attempted a variety of coping strategies before seeking therapy, and that informal help was important throughout the process. Problem recognition was the most difficult, time-consuming step. Difficulty achieving the first three steps was significantly, curvilinearly related to symptomatic distress, as the least and most distressed reported the most difficulty. Utilizing social support was related to experiencing greater difficulty deciding therapy might help. Time needed to recognize the problem was related to both education and social support utilization; time needed to decide therapy might help was related to age; and time needed to decide to seek therapy was related to social support utilization. The relevance of these results to various secondary intervention programs is discussed.