Mental health (MH) issues have been rising – both internationally and locally. Depression (DEP), anxiety (ANX), and suicidality (SCD) have been highlighted as most prevalent – especially amongst the youth. Despite disconcerting figures, young individuals do not always seek for help. Barriers to help-seeking (HS) outweigh perceived benefits of accessing psychological care. This Sequential Explanatory research sought to explore deeper into Expressive Inhibition (EI) – by first (1) establishing its prevalence, through correlational examinations of MH concerns and HS intentions; and then (2) unraveling its essence, through interpretative phenomenological investigations upon the nature and meanings of EI. Preliminary findings revealed that EI exists – as substantiated by the presence of MH concerns (i.e., moderate to severe prevalence of DEP-ANX-SCD symptoms), but relative absence of HS behaviors (i.e., low general HS intentions, and actual HS behaviors typically among informal avenues alone). Significant correlations (p<0.01) demonstrated that higher intensities of MH concerns were associated with lower HS intentions (HSI). This was consistent across Informal (DEPxIHSI: rs=-0.34; ANXxIHSI: rs=-0.29; SCDxIHSI: rs=-0.45) and Formal (DEPxFHSI: rs=-0.28; ANXxFHSI: rs=-0.27; SCDxFHSI: rs=-0.26) help-seeking alike. It is this phenomenon of EI that complicated the youth’s rapidly deteriorating MH state even further – as MH concerns were not only unaddressed (i.e., due to lack of awareness, affirmation, access, etc.); but deliberately unexpressed (i.e., due to fears of invalidation, vulnerability, hurting others, etc.). These findings suggest that more work is needed – not only to help students reach out; but also to open up, and express themselves without inhibition. Authors:
Bonn Justin Esguerra Jr., University of Santo Tomas, Philippines
Clarissa Delariarte, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines

About the Presenter(s)
Mr Bonn Justin Esguerra Jr. is a University Postgraduate Student at University of Santo Tomas in Philippines

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