Mental illness stigma and treatment-seeking willingness in Japan: a national survey study

Background

Japanese adults report high mental illness stigma and low treatment use, yet the specific public stigma beliefs and attitudes associated with Japanese treatment seeking remain unclear. This study had three aims: (1) describe public stigma in a national Japanese sample and compare these patterns descriptively with U.S. public stigma, (2) examine which Japanese public stigma components independently predicted Japanese treatment-seeking willingness, and (3) examine the effects of the potential facilitators of mattering and prior treatment experience on Japanese treatment-seeking willingness.