Help-Seeking

In-hours teams could help patients by clearly explaining who to contact and when, which is particularly important for patients without family support. Despite superior mental health literacy, medical students' rate of professional help-seeking is no better than that of other student groups. Four papers described patient and family worries or experiences around the legitimacy of seeking out-of-hours help. Help-seeking remained limited compared with the number of high-risk gamblers. Attitudinal improvements toward help-seeking measured by validated scales may not translate into actual behavioral uptake. Stigma reduction alone does not appear sufficient to shift help-seeking behavior in medical students. Barriers specific to medical students include fear of career repercussions from disclosure, a professional identity as healers rather than patients, and demanding schedules. Dismissive interactions could discourage future help-seeking, making the communication response especially important. Some patients and families felt their concerns were delegitimised after contacting services, reinforcing guilt and uncertainty about when to seek help. The most common help resources included addi…