Help-Seeking: Strong Intentions, Limited Follow‑Through
The question of how people move from recognising mental strain to seeking support reveals one of the most significant gaps highlighted in the study. While respondents across the Nordics express a high level of openness toward seeking professional help if mental load becomes overwhelming, their actual behaviour tells a different story. The new data illustrates this clearly: Sweden shows a relatively close alignment between intention and action, with 40 % of people saying they would likely reach out for professional support and 33 % reporting that they already have. Denmark shows a similar level of willingness, yet the number of those who have acted on it remains noticeably lower.
The divergence becomes even more visible in Norway, where a large share of respondents describes themselves as open to seeking help, but a considerably smaller portion have taken the step. Finland stands out most clearly in this regard. While nearly half of Finnish respondents say they would be likely to seek professional help — the highest across all four markets — less than a third have done so. This imbalance highlights a crucial challenge for employers, health systems and public institutions: the psychological threshold between considering help and accessing it remains high, even in markets where openness is strong. Supporting wellbeing therefore requires not only promoting available services, but ensuring people feel confident and supported enough to use them.