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Medicine Simple #help-seeking#stigma#access

Help-Seeking Funnel

Symptoms -> recognition -> seeking help -> entering treatment -> remission. Most drop out early.

A free, animated help-seeking funnel you can read here or embed on any website, from Scrollchart.

Help-Seeking Funnel

Mental Health Help-Seeking FunnelOf 100 people with symptoms, ~15 reach remission. Most drop off before treatment.100%Have symptomsStage 160%Recognize as treatableStage 240%Seek helpStage 325%Enter treatmentStage 415%Achieve remissionStage 5Stigma, low literacy-40%Cost, fear, denial-20%Wait-lists, access-15%Drop-out, poor fit-10%Where people drop offHave symptoms → Recognize as treatableStigma, low literacy (40% lost)Recognize as treatable → Seek helpCost, fear, denial (20% lost)Seek help → Enter treatmentWait-lists, access (15% lost)Enter treatment → Achieve remissionDrop-out, poor fit (10% lost)Source: Kessler, Andrews, Demyttenaere(WHO World Mental Health surveys)85 of every 100 symptomatic people never reach remission. The biggest single loss (40 points) is at recognition.

Funnel: 100% with symptoms -> 60% recognize -> 40% seek help -> 25% enter treatment -> 15% achieve remission. Drop-off points labeled with barriers.

Good for

  • Public-health campaigns explaining where mental-health interventions are most needed
  • Patient-education content reducing stigma around seeking help
  • Health-journalism pieces on access gaps in psychiatric care

Source & accuracy

This help-seeking funnel is an editorial illustration built to represent the concept accurately. Where it shows figures, they are typical or representative values chosen to make the relationship clear, not a single underlying dataset. The diagram and its explainer are reviewed and maintained centrally, and updated over time as understanding improves.

Where people fall out of the help-seeking funnel

Getting from distress to recovery passes through several stages: experiencing symptoms, recognising them as a problem, deciding to seek help, actually entering treatment, and then engaging long enough to improve. Each step loses people. Many never recognise symptoms as treatable, others recognise them but never seek help, and a further group seeks help once but drops out before treatment can work. The result is that only a fraction of those who could benefit reach sustained care.

Modelling it as a funnel makes the leakage visible and shows that improving access at a single point, for example adding clinics, does little if people stall earlier at recognition or the decision to seek help.

How stigma narrows the funnel

Stigma operates at multiple levels: public attitudes, self-stigma where a person internalises shame, and structural barriers like cost, waiting lists, and limited services. These interact, so reducing dropout usually requires addressing both attitudes and practical access together.

This is general educational information, not medical advice. Anyone struggling with mental health is encouraged to reach out to a qualified professional or a local support service.

Embed this diagram

Add this animated help-seeking funnel to your own site. Copy one line of HTML, or use the embed builder for theme and sizing options.

Reference

What this is
A free, embeddable, animated help-seeking funnel for any website.
Who uses it
Medical educators, Health journalists, Patient-info sites, Psychology blogs.
How to embed
Copy one line of HTML. No signup. No watermark. Works in WordPress, Webflow, Ghost, Substack, plain HTML.
File size
iframe embed, ~80 KB gzipped (loads on demand, does not block your page paint).
License
Free forever. Editorial explainer text included; updated centrally over time.
URL
scrollchart.com/diagram/mental-health-stigma-help-seeking

Embed format options

Copy the universal HTML snippet, the WordPress shortcode, or an iframe fallback - see the WordPress plugin page for details. Any format keeps the same Core Web Vitals profile and the same explainer text.

Embed snippet 
<div data-scrollchart="mental-health-stigma-help-seeking" data-scrollchart-v="1"></div>
<script src="https://scrollchart.com/embed.js" async></script>

By embedding, you acknowledge the diagram and explainer text are served from scrollchart.com and may be updated from time to time to reflect new research or to link to relevant sources within the explainer.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I get a free animated "Help-Seeking Funnel" for my website?
Scrollchart provides "Help-Seeking Funnel" as a free, embeddable animated diagram you can add to any website with one line of HTML. No signup is required and there is no watermark. The diagram and its explainer text are served from scrollchart.com, so the embed stays current without any maintenance on your end.
How do I embed a help-seeking funnel diagram in a health or wellness blog?
Copy the HTML snippet from the Scrollchart diagram page and paste it into any post or page in your CMS. It works in WordPress, Webflow, Ghost, Substack, and plain HTML without any plugin or account. The diagram renders as animated SVG directly in your page, so search engines can index the accompanying explainer text.
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