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. 2021 Nov;57(8):1505-1517.
doi: 10.1007/s10597-020-00767-5. Epub 2021 Jan 20.

Help-Seeking Behavior and Treatment Barriers in Anxiety Disorders: Results from a Representative German Community Survey

Ingmar Heinig  1 , Hans-Ulrich Wittchen  2   3 , Susanne Knappe  2
Affiliations

Help-Seeking Behavior and Treatment Barriers in Anxiety Disorders: Results from a Representative German Community Survey

Ingmar Heinig et al. Community Ment Health J. 2021 Nov.

Abstract

Although effective therapies exist, treatment rates of anxiety disorders (AD) are low, raising the question why affected individuals do not receive treatment. We provide data from the nationally representative German Health Interview and Examination Survey-2011 (DEGS1) on the help-seeking behavior and perceived treatment barriers of 650 subjects with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders' (DSM-IV AD). Only 26% of all cases with AD in the community reported having had contact with mental health services because of their anxiety problems in their lifetime. 16% were currently receiving professional help, most frequently by psychotherapists (8%), psychiatrists (5%) and general practitioners (5%). 40% of all cases never even considered seeking help and 31% reported barriers to treatment, such as self-reliance (18%) or beliefs that treatments were ineffective (9%), unavailable (8%) or too stigmatizing (7%). Measures to increase treatment rates should thus target individual as well as public attitudes and health literacy to increase awareness of and access to evidence-based interventions.

Keywords: Anxiety disorders; Dropout; Help seeking; Service use; Treatment barriers.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Reasons for dropout among individuals with prior treatment discontinuation (N = 43)
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