ABSTRACT
A number of authors have considered the process of help-seeking from different perspectives and in relation to a variety of populations. Although the views expressed are wide ranging, there are also commonalities. There is agreement that people may have symptoms or other distressing difficulties for some considerable time before seeking professional help. Zola (1973) concluded that 'there is an accommodation physical, personal and social to the symptoms and it is when this accommodation breaks down that the person seeks, or is forced to seek, medical aid'. In his view there are five types of triggers to the decision to seek medical aid. These are:
I The occurrence of an interpersonal crisis. 2 The perceived interference with social or personal relations. 3 Sanctions. 4 The perceived interference with vocational or physical activity. 5 A kind of temporalizing of symptomatology.
