Abstract
Researchers in the United States have documented a sizable correlation between people's perceptions of public mental illness stigma on the one hand and their willingness to pursue psychological treatment on the other-as expectations of stigmatization rise, attitudes toward seeking professional help (e.g., psychotherapy) tend to grow more negative. In this article, we raise the possibility that some descriptions of psychotherapy-namely, descriptions that underscore the process of diagnosis and the application of specific remedial interventions-may heighten potential clients' concerns about stigmatization and degrade help-seeking attitudes more than do others (e.g., the supportive relationship between client and clinician). Two brief online survey-based experiments provided preliminary tests of this hypothesis. In Study 1, we presented adults from across the United States (N = 293) with hypothetical therapists who emphasized either (a) selecting the correct psychological treatment for a client's particular problem or (b) cultivating a strong therapeutic alliance when conducting sessions. Participants reported more-favorable attitudes toward seeking services in the alliance-centric condition (d = 0.35), an effect mediated by reductions in perceived public-help-seeking-related stigma. Study 2 (N = 391) added to the (a) treatment and (b) alliance emphasis conditions (c) a baseline group (who received no emphasis statement before rating their help-seeking attitudes and public stigma perceptions) and (d) a combination group (who received a statement with a joint emphasis on both the alliance and specific treatments). Results again favored the alliance emphasis, suggesting (tentatively) that practitioners should highlight the relational elements of psychotherapy when describing their services to the public.