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Stop the Stigma: TED Talk Reduces Negative Attitudes About Mental Health Treatment

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Abstract

Mental health stigma contributes to failure to seek professional psychological treatment, yet evidence suggests that video interventions may be effective in reducing such stigma. The current study hypothesized that a brief TED Talk on mental illness would result in more positive attitudes toward mental health treatment seeking compared to a control TED Talk. American adults (N = 141) were randomly assigned to video conditions and then were asked to evaluate the videos and provide a self-report of their attitudes toward seeking professional psychological treatment. It was found that, compared to the control video condition, the mental health video condition displayed more positive attitudes toward mental health treatment seeking. Exploratory analysis investigated the video factors related to these attitudes. These findings provide additional evidence that video interventions are effective in reducing stigma related to mental illness and that brief TED Talk videos may be a free, easy-to-access, and publicly available source for future interventions to reduce mental health stigma.
Psychology of Popular Media
Stop the Stigma: TED Talk Reduces Negative Attitudes About Mental Health
Treatment
Lindsay C. Morton, Giavanna Villano, Emily Faltings, and Nicole Coccodrilli
Online First Publication, January 8, 2024. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000518
CITATION
Morton, L. C., Villano, G., Faltings, E., & Coccodrilli, N. (2024, January 8). Stop the Stigma: TED Talk Reduces Negative
Attitudes About Mental Health Treatment. Psychology of Popular Media. Advance online publication.
https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000518
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