Why did they not ask for professional help? A qualitative exploration of factors influencing professional help-seeking intentions among socially anxious youths.

= 20.71 years) who scored above the cutoff score on the Social Phobia Inventory and interviewed them about their perceptions of social anxiety and how they cope with it, including some of their perceptions of professional help. Based on the five main constructs of the health belief model, participants reported the factors that influence their seeking professional help: (a) perceived susceptibility to health threats, (b) perceived severity of health threats, (c) perceived benefits of health-protective behaviors, (d) perceived barriers to performing these behaviors, and (e) perceived self-efficacy for these protective behaviors. The results highlight the barriers that individuals with social anxiety face when seeking professional help, which can be used to guide and improve mental health interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).