Communication Barriers in Mental Health: The Role ofMisinformation and the Difficulty of Opening Up When Seeking Help
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Prevalence of mental health problems among students is high; however, a significant percentage does not turn to reliable sources for help. The objective of this study is to examine the barriers for seeking help by comparing the profiles of college students who seek professional help with those who turn to artificial intelligence and those who do not seek help at all. A cross-sectional methodology was used for this purpose. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify predictors of help-seeking profiles across the three groups. Greater awareness of current and past problems and adequate information about mental health resources made it significantly more likely to belong to the group seeking professional help compared to those who do not seek help. Meanwhile, the probability of belonging to the group that seeks help from Artificial Intelligence rather than a professional was higher when there was lower awareness of the problem, insufficient information about mental health resources, greater self-stigma for seeking help, and greater difficulty for talk about personal problems.
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