Uppal Supreet, Takhar Opinderjit, Khutan Ranjit, Galbraith Niall
School of Psychological, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Coventry University, Priory St, Coventry, UK.
Faculty of Education, Health and Wellbeing, MC Building, University of Wolverhampton Wolverhampton, UK.
J Community Psychol. 2025 Sep;53(7):e70043. doi: 10.1002/jcop.70043.
To understand UK Sikh community's perceptions of mental health shame, their attitudes towards mental health causes, treatments and help-seeking and the characteristics associated with these perceptions. An anonymous, online survey collected views from 1001 Sikh respondents on the causes and treatments for mental health (MH) difficulties and perceived barriers to help-seeking. The Attitudes to Mental Health Problems (ATMHP) questionnaire also measured respondents' perceptions of external, internal and reflected mental health-related shame. Respondents mostly endorsed biopsychosocial causes of MH difficulties and most viewed psychology/psychiatry/counselling, social and spiritual support as the main treatments. Shame, stigma and nonacceptance were seen as barriers to seeking help. Compared to previous UK surveys using the ATMHP, our Sikh respondents scored more strongly on most dimensions of MH shame compared to the general population or to students; they tended to score similarly or higher on MH shame compared to a previous ATMHP survey of UK South Asians. Internal shame was higher in single, younger people. Those inclined to help others perceived more negative MH attitudes within their community. Higher internal shame, higher perceived external family shame, and higher perceived negative community attitudes to MH were found in those who had had previous MH problems themselves. Within this generally young sample, perceptions of MH shame within communities/families were quite high, as was internalised shame. Such attitudes pose a significant barrier to MH help-seeking. These findings highlight the need for culturally sensitive MH services for the UK Sikh population.
为了解英国锡克教社区对心理健康羞耻感的认知、他们对心理健康病因、治疗方法及寻求帮助的态度，以及与这些认知相关的特征。一项匿名在线调查收集了1001名锡克教受访者对心理健康问题的病因、治疗方法以及寻求帮助的感知障碍的看法。心理健康问题态度（ATMHP）问卷还测量了受访者对外部、内部以及反映出的与心理健康相关的羞耻感的认知。受访者大多认可心理健康问题的生物心理社会病因，并且大多数人将心理/精神科/咨询、社会和精神支持视为主要治疗方法。羞耻感、污名化和不被接受被视为寻求帮助的障碍。与英国此前使用ATMHP进行的调查相比，我们的锡克教受访者在心理健康羞耻感的大多数维度上得分比普通人群或学生更高；与此前对英国南亚人的ATMHP调查相比，他们在心理健康羞耻感方面的得分往往与之相近或更高。单身、较年轻的人群内部羞耻感更高。那些倾向于帮助他人的人在其社区中察觉到更多对心理健康的负面态度。那些自己曾有过心理健康问题的人，其内部羞耻感更高、感知到的来自家庭外部的羞耻感更高，并且感知到社区对心理健康的负面态度也更高。在这个总体较为年轻的样本中，社区/家庭内部对心理健康羞耻感的认知以及内化羞耻感都相当高。这种态度对寻求心理健康帮助构成了重大障碍。这些发现凸显了为英国锡克教人群提供具有文化敏感性的心理健康服务的必要性。
