160 BRITISH SOCIAL ATTITUDES

While it is true that around four in ten would feel comfortable talking to a
therapist or counsellor in these circumstances, almost as many disagree.
Moreover, a markedly larger proportion say they would feel comfortable talking
to their GP – a more traditional form of help-seeking, without the same
associations with talk-based therapeutic culture. A sizeable minority also
indicate that they would not want anyone to know if they had seen a therapist or
counsellor (just over four in ten), that they would not know how to find a
therapist or counsellor (just over three in ten), that they feel counselling or
therapy is only for people with really serious problems (three in ten) and that
they don’t really know anything about therapy or counselling (around three in
ten). Taken together, these findings certainly do not seem to paint a picture of a
culture in which therapeutic ideas and practices are universally accepted or
understood.
Table 7.3 Attitudes towards therapy and counselling


Agree Neither Disagree
Would feel comfortable talking to GP
if feeling worried, stressed or down % 58 14 25
Would feel comfortable talking to a
therapist or counsellor if feeling % 38 23 35
worried, stressed or down
Would know how to find counsellor/
therapist if needed % 50 12 33
Counselling or therapy only for people
with really serious problems % 31 23 42
Doesn’t really know anything about
counselling or therapy % 35 19 43
Wouldn’t want anyone to know if had
seen a counsellor or therapist % 43 27 26
Base: 1025

These aggregate figures obscure some wide differences by age, which suggest
that older people are much more likely than younger groups to feel comfortable
discussing these sorts of issues with their GP but are not nearly as enthusiastic
about doing so with a therapist or counsellor. This is illustrated in Figure 7.1.
The smallest proportion agreeing that they would feel comfortable talking to a
counsellor or therapist is found among those in the youngest age group (27 per
cent), followed by those in the oldest (31 per cent). It is those in the middle two
age groups who are least resistant to this idea. Again, the relationship between
attitudes and age suggests a slightly more complex picture than might be
expected from a simple narrative of a growing cultural acceptance of
therapeutic ideas developing over time. There may, for example, be a life-stage
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