Hrink? I just don’t get it. If people got the blues, they keep it to themselves. I think mental depression and mental health is something that the people with whom I associate, they keep it to themselves. If they’re going to the shrink. you’re going when nobody’s looking.’ Lack of confidence and mistrust in mental health treatment Many HS-173MedChemExpress HS-173 Participants expressed a lack of confidence in the effectiveness of mental health treatment, the purchase CPI-455 ability of mental health professionals, and the capability of the mental health service delivery system in general. Some participants felt that the mental health service delivery system is flawed, and simply does not work. Participants believed that oftentimes individuals in need of help are unable to get help. This caused many participants to lose faith in the ability of the health care system to treat individuals suffering from mental health prohlems. For example: `Nowadays, like people with mental illness … they don’t seem to get help. They used to, if you had mental illness they’d put you in a hospital and help you or something, but nowadays, there’s a lot of people with mental illness. they just put them on the street and they have to fend for themselves and they don’t get any help’ (Ms D. a 70-year-old woman). Participants also expressed a lack of confidence in mental health treatments and mental health care providers. When asked why she chose not to seek mental health treatment when she was experiencing severe depressive symptoms, one participant stated: `I don’t have confidence in medicine enough to believe that they know what it is, that they can even diagnose it right, because they made so many mistakes … And they’re treating one thing and it’s another. They’re treating depression, and it’s not even depression, it’s something else.’ (Ms S. an 82 year-old woman). Participants expressed concern about the methods that mental health professionals have for treating depression. These concerns often led to mistrust of mental health professionals. Many participants were against taking antidepressant medications, and believed that mental health care providers would attempt to persuade them to take a pill to relieve their symptoms. Ms A. 72 years old. stated: `Don’t give me no medicine that’s going to make me sicker than I am … and doctors are famous for that…. don’t care who you are, they’re not God, they’re doctors.’ Some participants endorsed mistrust stemming from negative previous experiences with the mental health system. usually with a White provider. This lack of trust also had an impact on participants’ attitudes about subsequently seeking mental health treatment and ultimately became a barrier to help seeking. Ms T. an 80-year-old woman stated: `I can handle it on my own … I don’t trust nobody else.’ Other participants talked about the importance of being able to trust your provider, and how difficult trust can be if the race of the provider and consumer of services are different. For example: `I’d go and look them right in the eye and talk to them. You can tell by what people are about if you look them dead in the eye when you talk to them. Especially. I’ll say this, especially White people. Look them dead in the eye. You can tell if you can trust them’ (Ms G. a 68 year-old woman).Aging Ment Health. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 March 17.NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptConner et al.PageLack of access to mental health treatment In additio.Hrink? I just don’t get it. If people got the blues, they keep it to themselves. I think mental depression and mental health is something that the people with whom I associate, they keep it to themselves. If they’re going to the shrink. you’re going when nobody’s looking.’ Lack of confidence and mistrust in mental health treatment Many participants expressed a lack of confidence in the effectiveness of mental health treatment, the ability of mental health professionals, and the capability of the mental health service delivery system in general. Some participants felt that the mental health service delivery system is flawed, and simply does not work. Participants believed that oftentimes individuals in need of help are unable to get help. This caused many participants to lose faith in the ability of the health care system to treat individuals suffering from mental health prohlems. For example: `Nowadays, like people with mental illness … they don’t seem to get help. They used to, if you had mental illness they’d put you in a hospital and help you or something, but nowadays, there’s a lot of people with mental illness. they just put them on the street and they have to fend for themselves and they don’t get any help’ (Ms D. a 70-year-old woman). Participants also expressed a lack of confidence in mental health treatments and mental health care providers. When asked why she chose not to seek mental health treatment when she was experiencing severe depressive symptoms, one participant stated: `I don’t have confidence in medicine enough to believe that they know what it is, that they can even diagnose it right, because they made so many mistakes … And they’re treating one thing and it’s another. They’re treating depression, and it’s not even depression, it’s something else.’ (Ms S. an 82 year-old woman). Participants expressed concern about the methods that mental health professionals have for treating depression. These concerns often led to mistrust of mental health professionals. Many participants were against taking antidepressant medications, and believed that mental health care providers would attempt to persuade them to take a pill to relieve their symptoms. Ms A. 72 years old. stated: `Don’t give me no medicine that’s going to make me sicker than I am … and doctors are famous for that…. don’t care who you are, they’re not God, they’re doctors.’ Some participants endorsed mistrust stemming from negative previous experiences with the mental health system. usually with a White provider. This lack of trust also had an impact on participants’ attitudes about subsequently seeking mental health treatment and ultimately became a barrier to help seeking. Ms T. an 80-year-old woman stated: `I can handle it on my own … I don’t trust nobody else.’ Other participants talked about the importance of being able to trust your provider, and how difficult trust can be if the race of the provider and consumer of services are different. For example: `I’d go and look them right in the eye and talk to them. You can tell by what people are about if you look them dead in the eye when you talk to them. Especially. I’ll say this, especially White people. Look them dead in the eye. You can tell if you can trust them’ (Ms G. a 68 year-old woman).Aging Ment Health. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 March 17.NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptConner et al.PageLack of access to mental health treatment In additio.