Cultural factors have an important role in causal model of symptoms, threshold for treatment seeking and acceptability of professional help in ADHD.

To explore causal explanations and treatment seeking amongst parents of children with ADHD and understand these in context of a largely collectivistic culture as in India.

In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 consenting parents; data interpreted using process theory.

Initial reaction to psychiatric referral revealed themes of disbelief/surprise, feeling confused/offended and lag of 6–36 months to consultation. Parents most commonly attributed causality to psychosocial reasons (lack of motivation/volitional, inadequate disciplining), while few gave one or more biomedical explanations (epilepsy, brain damage, low birth weight, nutritional deficiency, maternal ill health, low intelligence) alone or with a psychosocial reason. Despite the initial reaction, all but 1 parent was relieved with medical explanation, accepted diagnosis, and perceived need for treatment. Most parents were willing to start/continue medication if doctor suggested so as “he/she would know the best”. All parents expressed that counseling was needed.

Initial reactions and delay in treatment seeking is understood in light of cultural attitudes towards mental illnesses and psychiatric consultation in developing nations. More importantly, despite initial reluctance, most parents accepted biomedical explanation and treatment. The doctor patient relationship modeled on a guru-chela relation of complete trust in authority can explain this process change. We conclude that cultural attitudes not only influence causal models and initial treatment seeking, but also modify process of help seeking.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.