The role of internal shame, external shame and collectivism in relationship between believes about psychopathology and attitudes towards seeking psychological help

In the current study, it was aimed to examine the roles of internal shame, external shame, and collectivism in the relationship between beliefs about psychopathology and attitudes towards psychological help-seeking. The sample of the research consists of 377 participants between the ages of 18-71 who did not receive psychotherapy support or psychiatric medication at the time of participation in the study. In the study, it was collected data from participants by Personal Information Form, Beliefs toward Mental Illness Scale (BMI), Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help: A Shortened Form, Internalized Shame Scale, Other As Shamer Scale-2, Cultural Value Scale (CVSCALE). Findings of the study shows that beliefs about psychopathology and internal shame predict attitudes towards psychological help-seeking. In addition, while women's internal shame scores were significantly higher than men, no such differentiation was found for external shame. As a result of the model analyzes carried out for the purpose of the research, while internal shame does not have a moderator role in the relationship between beliefs about psychopathology and attitudes toward psychological help-seeking; external shame-only in the female samplemoderate this relationship. Also, it was seen that external shame moderated the moderating effect of collectivism-in the female sample- in the relationship between beliefs about psychopathology and attitude towards psychological help-seeking. The research findings were discussed in the light of the literature.