| Many military service members and Veterans in need of mental health help do not seek psychotherapy and/or counseling. The failure to seek services may be due to negative attitudes and stigma toward psychotherapy and/or counseling. This study was an experimental investigation of the effectiveness of two direct-to-consumer psychotherapy marketing videos (APA Psychotherapy Works, and Department of Veterans Affairs Making the Connection) in decreasingperceived public stigmaandself-stigma, and in improving attitudes and treatment-seeking intentions in civilian and military service member/Veteran participants. Participants viewedone of three videos depicting either Veterans who had benefited from psychotherapy or counseling(VA video), the benefits of psychotherapy or counseling in comparison to medication(APA video), or a control video before completing measures of stigma, attitudes, intentions, and preferences for psychotherapy or medication. Participants who viewed the VA video endorsed decreased perceived stigma compared to the control,while participants who viewed the APA video endorsed decreased self-stigma and more positive attitudes compared to the control. The experimental conditions did not differ from the control in preferencesor intentions. Interaction effects were found between participant type and video type on perceivedstigma, self-stigma, attitudes, and intentions. However, these effects were not borne out by simple contrasts. Exploratory analyses indicated that military service member and Veteran participants who viewed the APA video endorsed lower levels of perceived stigma and self-stigma, and more positive attitudes and preferences compared to the control video. Military service member and
xiiVeteran participants who viewed the VA video endorsed lower perceived stigma and more positive attitudes compared to the control, but no difference in self-stigma,intentions, or preferences were seen. These results support the use of direct-to-consumer psychotherapy marketing videos, particularly the APA video, with military service members and Veterans.Key Words: Veterans, Military, Service Member, Mental Health, Stigma, Attitudes |