IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v58y2012i4p343-349.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What to do about depression? Self-help recommendations of the public

Author

Listed:
  • Anita Holzinger
  • Herbert Matschinger
  • Matthias Angermeyer

Abstract

Background: While help-seeking and treatment preferences for depression have been assessed in a number of population studies, little is known about the public’s self-help beliefs. Aims: To explore public beliefs about self-help actions to be taken in case of depression. Methods: In spring 2009, a population-based survey was conducted by telephone in the city of Vienna. A fully structured interview was carried out, which began with the presentation of a vignette describing a case of depression. Subsequently, respondents were asked to indicate to what extent they would recommend various self-help actions. Results: Among the self-help options proposed, confiding in a close friend or someone in the family were most frequently recommended. Apart from that, a variety of interpersonal actions (socializing with others, joining a self-help group), psychological methods (thinking positively), lifestyle changes (engaging in sport, listening to music, going on vacation, reading a good book) and dietary methods (eating healthy food) were endorsed by over half of respondents. While women were more ready to recommend self-help actions, the better educated were less enthusiastic about them. Conclusions: As only some of the self-help measures endorsed by the public are evidence based, more research is needed before promulgating their use.

Suggested Citation

  • Anita Holzinger & Herbert Matschinger & Matthias Angermeyer, 2012. "What to do about depression? Self-help recommendations of the public," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 58(4), pages 343-349, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:58:y:2012:i:4:p:343-349
    DOI: 10.1177/0020764010397262
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020764010397262
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0020764010397262?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:58:y:2012:i:4:p:343-349. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.