Externalizing the Mental Struggle: How Anthropomorphism Enhances Health Engagement via Emotional Detachment and Self‐Efficacy

ABSTRACT Mental disorders present a unique challenge for health communication: unlike physical illnesses that can be localized to specific body parts, mental disorders pervade one's thoughts and emotions, creating a profound sense of self‐illness fusion that diminishes perceived coping capacity. We propose that anthropomorphism can address this barrier through a distinct mechanism. While prior research shows that anthropomorphizing physical diseases increases protective behaviors by heightening perceived vulnerability (threat appraisal), we theorize that for mental disorders, anthropomorphism operates through a coping appraisal pathway. By framing a disorder as an independent, human‐like entity, anthropomorphism enables emotional detachment, that is, externalizing the disorder as separate from the self, which enhances perceived self‐efficacy and promotes protective behaviors. Across four studies (three preregistered; N = 1328), we demonstrate this serial mediation and rule out alternative explanations. A moderation‐of‐process study confirms that only independent (not dependent) anthropomorphism produces these benefits, highlighting the necessity of separation for coping. We further identify natural kind beliefs as a boundary condition: the effect is attenuated among individuals who view mental disorders as biologically fixed. This research advances marketing theory by identifying a novel mechanism for anthropomorphism in health communication and offers insights for reducing barriers to mental health engagement.