The growing body of literature concerning the psychological impact of disasters finds strong evidence that severe short-term reactions are common. Long-term effects have also been observed. Preliminary evidence suggests that mental health intervention programs may be able to help alleviate short-term emotional stress and prevent the development of long-term effects. It is clear from evaluations of assistance efforts that many individuals who may be in need of professional help do not seek it out. Why don't most victims avail themselves of services offered by professional mental health workers? More importantly, what conditions must be met before individuals consider it appropriate to seek from help for emotional distress from mental health professionals? Five experiments exploring the relationship between situational factors and lay persons' attributions about the causes and nature of emotional distress are proposed.
The aim of this research is to delineate how beliefs about problems may serve as barriers to help-seeking among distressed populations. More specifically, the studies presented here are designed to explore the role of stigma as a determinant of mental health help-seeking in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Grounded primarily in an attributional framework this work seeks to assess how individuals assign responsibility for the nature, source, and global implications of a problem. In addition, factors determining attributions made by non-distressed individuals about disaster victims who seek professional psychological help under a variety of conditions will be explored. These studies have been designed in conjunction with a longitudinal field study that is currently gathering information about factors determining changes in the coping strategies of disaster victims over time. The laboratory based research paradigm employed in the current proposal will allow more detailed analyses of factors influencing behavior over relatively shorter periods of time. Results from these studies will have direct relevance both for general theoretical and more directly applied investigations of person perception, help-seeking, and the determinants of stigma.
