Despite growing awareness of mental health in society, stigma, generational beliefs, and lack of knowledge of available resources continue to pose significant barriers to accessing psychological care (Elshaikh et al., 2023). These questions acquire special relevance among people aged between 60 and 75 years, a phase characterised by important changes in health, lifestyle, and social relations. Although increased life expectancy and improved health conditions have contributed to more active ageing and greater independence, these same factors may also contribute to delaying or avoiding seeking professional help.

This study, based on the HELPderly survey, conducted among a representative sample of the Spanish population aged between 60 and 75 years, with a balanced distribution by sex, age, and province of residence, analyses attitudes towards seeking mental health support and the factors associated with them.
 

In general terms, the scores showed a high willingness towards seeking professional help (M = 4.58) and a low level of concern with the stigma associated with psychological care (M = 4.43), on a scale of 1 to 5 in both cases. In contrast, psychological openness obtained a more moderate score (M = 3.03), which suggests that, although the majority of participants show favourable attitudes towards seeking help, recognising and talking about their own emotional difficulties continues to be more challenging.

If the differences between men and women are taken into account, the results indicate that women present, overall, significantly more favourable attitudes towards seeking mental health support. Specifically, they showed greater psychological openness, were more willing to seek help, and were less concerned about the stigma associated with seeking help from mental health services. In addition, they reported lower levels of loneliness. However, they perceived worse quality of life and poorer health than men did. These results suggest that, although women view some aspects of their well-being less positively, they are more willing to recognise emotional distress and seek professional support when they need it.


 

Attitudes towards seeking mental health support are conditioned by various personal and social factors. Certain sociodemographic variables, such as having a higher level of education and being female, had the greatest weight in explaining more favourable attitudes towards seeking mental health support. Social loneliness also played a significant role: people who felt lonelier had less favourable attitudes towards seeking mental health support (Hay & Schroder, 2025). Another prominent variable was previous or current experience in psychological treatment. Although nearly three out of every four participants (73.6%) had never received psychological treatment, those who had undergone this experience showed a more favourable attitude towards seeking help: they showed greater psychological openness, were more willing to seek help and were less concerned with the stigma associated to with seeking help from mental health services. Finally, older age and a worse perception of their own individual memory were also associated with less favourable attitudes, although with a lesser effect. These results indicate that attitudes regarding seeking help do not only depend on individual characteristics, but also on prior experiences with mental health services and social factors such as loneliness, which may facilitate or hinder the recognition of the need for psychological support.


 

Since the covid-19 pandemic, mental health has acquired greater social relevance. To analyse how this impact is perceived among people aged between 60 and 75 years, participants were asked whether their well-being had changed since the pandemic, whether they experienced more worry since then, and whether they considered that the mental health of people in their age group had worsened.

The results show that a proportion of the participants do perceive a personal impact: 15.9% of men and 24.6% of women said that their well-being had deteriorated, while 26.7% of men and 30.2% of women indicated that they experienced more worry than before the pandemic.

However, the perception of deterioration was even greater when they were asked about the mental health of their age group. In this case, 42.2% of men and 59.4% of women considered that the mental health of older adults had worsened following the pandemic.

These results suggest that, although a relevant proportion of participants recognise changes in their own well-being (Schäfer et al., 2023), the perception of the pandemic’s impact is even more intense when they evaluate the situation of their age group. This difference reveals a greater awareness of the deterioration of mental health on a collective scale than on an individual scale.


 

Participants were asked if they considered that they had easy access to mental health resources, such as psychological or psychiatric care, helplines or support groups in their area. The results showed that nearly half of the sample (44.8%) perceived that access was difficult or very difficult. No significant differences were observed between women and men; in contrast, differences were observed according to age. People aged 60 to 64 years were the ones who perceived the greatest difficulties in access: 52% considered that accessing these resources was difficult or very difficult. This percentage fell to 42% among participants aged 65 to 69 years, and to 38.7% in the group aged 70 to 75 years.

These results suggest that, within the 60-75 age group, older participants perceive mental health resources as more accessible. This difference could be due to greater familiarity with the healthcare system or to different expectations about access to this type of service, although specific studies would be needed to confirm these explanations.


 

Awareness of available resources plays a key role in encouraging people to seek mental health support (Lowther-Payne et al., 2023).

Participants were asked which mental health telephone resources they were aware of. The results revealed very limited awareness: 76.1% of respondents were not aware of any telephone mental health support resources. Among those who identified at least one resource, the 112 emergency service was cited most frequently (8.7% of participants), followed by the direct telephone numbers of hospitals or health centres in their community (5.2%) and the 061 health emergency service available in some of Spain’s autonomous communities (2.3%). Particularly striking is the very limited awareness of the national suicide prevention helpline (024). Despite it being operational since 2022 and the awareness-raising campaigns carried out in recent years, only 0.4% of participants spontaneously identified it. This result suggests that the visibility of this resource continues to be very limited among people aged 60 to 75 years, underlining the need to reinforce information and awareness-raising strategies targeting this population group.

Perceived accessibility to mental health resources varied between Spanish provinces. The results point to the existence of territorial inequalities in the perception of access to mental health resources, which reflects the need to continue advancing towards a more equitable and accessible offering throughout the country.


 

This study shows that, in general, people aged between 60 and 75 years have favourable attitudes towards seeking mental health support. However, this willingness does not depend solely on individual attitudes, but also on personal and social factors, and on previous experience with mental health services. Social loneliness and previous contact with psychological care play a significant role in the way in which people recognise emotional distress and consider the possibility of seeking help.

The findings also suggest that the pandemic had a greater impact on how participants perceived the mental health of older adults as a group than on their own personal well-being. At the same time, nearly half of participants perceive access to mental health resources as difficult, and there is very limited awareness of telephone support services, including nationwide services such as the 024 helpline.

These findings suggest that the main challenge does not lie solely in reducing stigma. Social loneliness, limited awareness of available resources, and perceived difficulties in accessing them emerge as significant barriers to seeking mental health support among people aged 60 to 75 years. Reinforcing education, improving communication about available resources, and reducing territorial disparities are essential for promoting equitable access and encouraging help-seeking behaviour.
 

The findings of this study should be interpreted in the context of certain limitations. First, as this study was carried out at a single point in time, the findings allow associations between the variables analysed, but do not allow causal relationships to be established. In addition, although the sample is representative of the Spanish population aged 60 to 75 years, the territorial analyses were conducted only in the provinces of mainland Spain and should be interpreted with caution, given that the number of participants varies between provinces.

Furthermore, the information is based on the answers provided by the participants themselves, so it can be influenced by individual perception or by social desirability when answering questions related to mental health. 

Similarly, this study analyses attitudes and willingness to seek mental health support, but not the actual use of psychological or psychiatric care services. Future studies could complement these findings by incorporating data on the actual use of mental health resources and comparing the results across different age groups.
 

ELSHAIKH, U. et al. (2023): «Barriers and facilitators of older adults for professional mental health help-seeking: A systematic review», BMC Geriatrics, 23, 516. 

HAY, B. R.; H. S. SCHRODER (2025): «Predictors of psychiatric treatment-seeking attitudes in older adults», Aging & Mental Health, 29(1), 43-50. 

LOWTHER-PAYNE, H. J. et al. (2023): «Understanding inequalities in access to adult mental health services in the UK: A systematic mapping review», BMC Health Services Research, 23, 1042. 

MACKENZIE, C. S. et al. (2004): «An Adaptation and Extension of the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale», Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34, 2410-2435.

SCHÄFER, S. K. et al. (2023): «The mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis», Age and Ageing, 52(9):afad170.