Shereen Fayaz, Neha Tanwar, Hemraj P. Jangir
Youth mental health in conflict-affected and culturally conservative settings such as Kashmir is shaped by prolonged exposure to violence, social stigma, and restricted spaces for emotional expression. Although awareness of mental health has increased, help-seeking remains limited due to fear of social judgement, concerns around family honour, and low trust in formal services. Empirical work that integrates mental health literacy, stigma, and lived experiences across sociocultural contexts in Kashmir remains limited. This study aimed to examine mental health literacy and help-seeking attitudes among youth and to situate these within local meanings of distress. A mixed-methods design was used among young adults (18–30 years) from Srinagar, Ganderbal, and Baramulla. The quantitative component included 240 participants who completed the Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS); gender and district differences were analysed using t-tests and ANOVA. The qualitative component comprised 15 in-depth interviews analysed thematically to explore stigma and help-seeking. Overall mental health literacy was moderate, with females scoring significantly higher than males. Significant district-wise differences were observed across most MHLS domains, with the highest scores in Srinagar and the lowest in Baramulla. However, help-seeking attitudes did not differ across districts, indicating uniformly low willingness to seek professional support. Qualitative findings highlighted persistent stigma, fear of social labelling, and reliance on family as the first source of support. A locally embedded idiom of distress, Khócxun, normalised psychological suffering but delayed professional help-seeking. The findings suggest that awareness alone does not translate into care-seeking due to stigma, gendered expectations, and cultural framings of distress. Culturally grounded, gender-sensitive literacy initiatives and community-based anti-stigma interventions are needed to bridge this gap.