Why People Avoid Mental Health Help: The Neuroscience of Care Avoidance

When a person’s life spirals out of control or stops making sense, the proper intervention can make all the difference. But only if that person actually takes action and seeks help. When mental health challenges set in, it’s not unusual for people to ignore their patterns, avoid seeking care, or even change support methods. This article aims to shed light on understanding mental health help avoidance and why people neglect mental health care, offering information on the barriers that prevent individuals from accessing critical services and resources.

Over the past twenty years, I’ve observed that individuals who don’t seek mental health help often fall into one or more of the following categories:

• Fear of Changing Their Current Practitioner or Counselor
• Stigma
• Lack of Awareness
• Lack of Support From Loved Ones
• Money and Making a Financial Investment in Themselves
• Fear and Distrust

Sadly, I have seen way too many clients who have spent years on a practitioner’s couch, making no progress toward improved mental well-being. When they finally find me, usually through a friend or colleague who has had great success through my practice, they are so overcome with their issues that every facet of their personal and professional lives is impacted.

Worse yet, when the practitioner, counselor, or life coach they were previously seeing had no answers, they were quickly sent to a psychiatrist to be put on medication. Unfortunately, this is the sad reality of today’s antiquated and grossly ineffective mental health treatment methods. Without proper crisis intervention or an evidence-based mental health program, individuals cycle through the same unproductive patterns for years.

How Avoiding Mental Health Help Allows Illness to Worsen Over Time

There are many different reasons a person is mentally or emotionally suffering. It could range from never working through a traumatic event to crippling anxiety, from a profound lack of self-confidence or poor communication skills to relationship conflicts and persistent sadness. Unfortunately, some of these mental health conditions lead to crippling disability and the inability to function daily. Without timely intervention, the neural pathways driving these patterns become more entrenched, making crisis-level deterioration increasingly likely. This is why understanding mental health support avoidance is crucial.

Over the past twenty years, I’ve observed that individuals who don’t seek mental health care often fall into one or more of the following categories.

Stigma

Society still attaches a stigma to mental illness or what is “perceived” as mental dysfunction. People may believe that if they are labeled “crazy” or deemed mentally or emotionally deficient, it may impact their career or how others perceive them. This is probably the most significant barrier people face when they realize they need mental health care. Peer support from others who have navigated the same mental health challenges can be a powerful antidote to this isolation.

Teicher and Samson (2016) documented that childhood adversity produces measurable alterations in brain structure, particularly in the hippocampus, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex, that persist into adulthood.

Often, if people talk about going to a neuroscience practice or support groups, or if they tell others that they take medication to manage their patterns, others may act like the person has some weakness of character. Many people believe that everyone should be able to overcome mental health challenges with willpower, which could not be more untrue. This is a significant reason why people neglect mental health care, and why accurate information about how the brain actually processes distress is so vital. Evidence-based treatment can address these underlying neural patterns, but only when individuals overcome the stigma barrier and access appropriate services.

Lack of Awareness

Not everyone with a mental illness or emotional issue knows they have this problem. Even when a close friend or family member addresses something they see as abnormal, many sufferers will become defensive and deflect or project their problematic behaviors unto the other person genuinely trying to help. Though they may struggle with extreme sadness, hopelessness, anxiety, confusion, delusion, anger, depersonalization, or many different mental health patterns, they are usually unaware of what is causing them to experience these signals and refuse to recognize the strain it is causing in their personal lives and/or in their professional lives.

Those struggling with these mental health conditions become somewhat immune to them as they begin to see these disorders as their “default setting” and may feel strongly that nothing is wrong with them. Whenever someone believes nothing is wrong, they are not motivated to get mental health care. Without accessible information about the neurological basis of their distress, they have no framework to recognize what is happening inside their own brain. This lack of awareness is a significant factor in why people don’t seek mental health services, and it underscores the importance of providing clear resources that help individuals identify when their patterns have crossed the line from ordinary stress into something that requires a care provider.

Lack of Support from Loved Ones: Why Peer Support Matters

Well-meaning family members or friends may quickly tell a person with a mental health condition that they are fine. Loved ones might insist the mental health difficulty is just a phase and the problem will probably go away in time. When loved ones tell someone experiencing an emotional or mental crisis that there is nothing to worry about, it is usually because that person does not want to accept that something is genuinely wrong. Humans are creatures of habit and resist change, even when mental well-being is at stake.

LeDoux and Pine (2016) clarified that fear and anxiety involve distinct neural circuits, with fear responses centered on the amygdala and anxiety maintained by the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis.

So much so that we don’t even like it when someone close to us changes, even for the better. Because ultimately, it requires us to change as the dynamic shifts. So, the person hurting or suffering is much more likely to question their desire to get help or their belief that there might indeed be a problem. When family members dismiss legitimate mental health concerns, they inadvertently reinforce the avoidance cycle and delay access to treatment programs that could produce meaningful change. This lack of support from loved ones can contribute to why people neglect mental health care.

Fear, Distrust, and Finding the Right Mental Health Care Provider

Awareness that there might be a mental health problem is the first step, but it’s not the only step. Reaching out takes courage, whether to a family doctor, mental health counselor, or another supportive person. Talking to a stranger may be incredibly intimidating, and the person may need to muster up the strength required to trust a mental health provider to help. For a person experiencing severe patterns, the thought of going on medication is also frightening. They may fear how the medicine will affect their mental state, especially if there could be unpleasant side effects. Knowing that a crisis line or helpline is available around the clock can lower the barrier to making that first call. This fear and distrust can be a significant barrier to why people don’t seek mental health care.

Money and Making a Financial Investment in Themselves

Many prioritize tangible assets like a house, car, or vacation when managing finances over less substantial but crucial investments like mental health care. They often see mental health care as an “extra” expense, relegating it to the back burner when budget constraints arise. This view may stem from societal conditioning, prioritizing materialistic needs over mental and emotional well-being, or even a lack of understanding of mental health’s profound impact on all aspects of life.

van der Kolk (2014) established that traumatic experiences produce lasting changes in the body and brain, with the amygdala maintaining heightened threat sensitivity long after the threatening environment has changed.

Investing in mental health is not just spending but a lifelong investment. The return on this mental health investment comes from improved quality of life, better interpersonal relationships, increased productivity, and overall contentment. Prioritizing financial resources for mental health services is indeed an investment in oneself, offering invaluable returns that far outweigh the initial monetary expenditure. The most crucial money SHOULD be spent on our well-being; it’s high time we recognize it and realign our financial priorities accordingly.

It’s essential for anyone who thinks they may have a mental health condition to obtain evaluation and support. Many mental health challenges will worsen if not addressed properly, which may lead to self-destructive behaviors and, in severe cases, a full mental health crisis. Patterns of mental health or emotional problems should not be ignored because, in all my years as a doctor, I have never seen any mental health condition resolve on its own. Early treatment and access to qualified support services remain the most effective path to lasting mental health recovery. The resources exist — the challenge is connecting individuals to them before avoidance becomes entrenched.

Beyond Crisis Lines: Building a Mental Health Help Program That Works

Understanding mental health help avoidance and why people neglect mental health care is the first step towards breaking down these barriers. It’s time to change the narrative and create an environment where mental health is prioritized, mental wellness is supported, crisis resources are visible, and seeking help is normalized. If you or someone you know is struggling, remember that resources and treatment are available, and it’s okay to reach out.

If you’re ready to take the next step towards better mental health, Book a Strategy Call with me at MindLAB Neuroscience. Together, we WILL improve your mental well-being using Brain-Based Practice and Counseling, Neuroscience, and Neuroplasticity, and start re-wiring all the neural pathways contributing to your suffering.

References

1. van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking.
2. LeDoux, J. E. and Pine, D. S. (2016). Using neuroscience to help understand fear and anxiety: A two-system framework. American Journal of Psychiatry, 173(11), 1083-1093.
3. Teicher, M. H. and Samson, J. A. (2016). Annual research review: Enduring neurobiological effects of childhood abuse and neglect. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(3), 241-266.

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