Conflicting Goals When Seeking Support for Mental Health Concerns: Testing a Stigma Support Activation Model

A stigma support activation model (SSAM) describing how stigma influences support and impression management goals, which in turn shape support seeking message characteristics is proposed. The model was empirically tested with a national sample of people with mental health concerns (N = 317), who completed an online survey about a recent time they sought support for their mental health. Results were generally consistent with the proposed model, suggesting a paradox of support seeking, where internalized stigma enhances both support and impression management goals, with perceived public stigma moderating the relationship between internalized stigma and support goals. These conflicting goals put constraints on the depth and emotional expressiveness of support seeking messages. Implications of these findings for theory on supportive communication and the management of stigmatized traits are discussed.