About this Research Topic

Background

Mental health literacy, arising from the concept of health literacy, is defined as understanding how to obtain and maintain positive mental health, understanding mental health problems and their treatments, decreasing stigma related to mental health problems, and enhancing help-seeking efficacy. Mental health literacy is an important empowerment tool, as it helps people better understand their own mental health and enables them to act upon this information. It increases people’s resilience and control over their mental health and enhances help-seeking efficacy.

Even though this is a relevant area, the research which has been carried out in this domain still tends to report a low mental health literacy among the general population. For instance, in the USA, the literature pinpoints that the general public has a basic understanding of common mental disorders yet continues to endorse stigmatizing attitudes toward mental illness and apprehension toward taking psychotropic medications.

An increasing amount of scholarly work has attempted to understand the reasons for poor rates of help-seeking for symptoms of mental health disorders all around the world. Several studies consistently show that the general public have relatively poor recognition of the symptoms of mental health disorders and appear to emphasise self-help over traditional medical treatments. Moreover, there are age, gender, educational, urban-rural and cross-cultural differences in mental health literacy, which may differentially affect rates of help-seeking in different contexts.

Considering this, the goal of this Research Topic is to publish recent advances in mental health literacy, such as programmes, for instance, in the mental health first aid and/or in the positive mental health domains. These kinds of programs may be useful in improving the mental health literacy of the general public and, consequently, allowing them to maintain and obtain positive mental health.

The general/main theme of this Research Topic is mental health literacy. Thus, we welcome manuscripts that focus on specific themes in this domain, such as positive mental health, knowledge about mental health problems and their treatments, mental health first aid, stigma related to mental health problems, and help-seeking efficacy. Considering there is a lack of experimental studies in this domain, we prefer manuscripts which report experimental research, but observational studies may also be considered for publication.

The following types of manuscripts may be considered for publication: Original Research; Systematic Review; Review; Mini Review; Policy and Practice Reviews; Clinical Trial; Case Report; Community Case Report; Conceptual Analysis; Opinion; Study Protocol.

Image: Gordon Johnson

Keywords: Health Literacy, Health Promotion, Literacy, Mental Health, Mental Hygiene

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