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Timali Timali

Dr. Taffe

1. What are some of the reasons given for why people do not seek therapeutic help? What are some of the reasons why people do seek professional help? Psychotherapy has been described as "a potentially difficult, embarrassing, and overall risky enterpriseÐ'...that can induce fear and avoidance in some individuals." People are more likely to seek counseling when they perceive their problems as more severe than the problems of others and when they sense that their decision to do so will reduce their feeling of distress. Individuals with a social network that accepts and encourages help seeking rather than rejects or discourages help seeking may also be necessary for the person to see seeking help as a positive choice.

2. The authors make note of an important omission in the psychological literature addressing why people do or do not seek professional help. What are they referring to? The authors are referring to TRA. TRA asserts that people's actions are decided through a series of rational judgments. The most direct predecessor of a behavior or action is the intention to perform the behavior.

3. The authors cite the Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) theory of reasoned action. How is theory important in whether or not someone might seek professional help? Theory is important because if a person anticipates a constructive outcome for a certain behavior, then they will have a positive attitude. Then vise versa.

4. What was the hypothesis of the authors for Study 1? For Study 2? The hypothesis was that the association between these factors and intent to seek help for interpersonal, academic, and drug problems would be mediated by attitudes toward seeking professional help. In study 2 they extended the findings of study 1 by examining the role of certain inhibiting factors on actual help-seeking begavior for those having experienced a specific distressing event. They hypothesized that the inhibiting factors would account for significant and unique variance in predicting participants' actual behavior for seeking psychological help.

5. Who were the subjects in Study One? The subjects were three hundred fifty-four college students recruited from psychology classes at a large Midwestern university.

6. What were the 10 variables that were addressed in Study One? Ten variables that were addressed in study