Understanding what’s happening to you and why you’re feeling a certain way isn’t always simple. Our heads can be incredibly complicated places and our emotions even more difficult to understand.
Sometimes those around you might notice that something is wrong before you do.
Take a look at the Sorted:Supported clues below for help with what to look out for. You’ll also find useful tips and hints on getting the most out of people who are there to support you.
If you’re already receiving specialist mental health support from the NHS, you may need different information.
Sleeping: do you have sleepless nights? Do you struggle to get to sleep or do you wake up in the night?
Eating: are you losing your appetite or eating more than you usually do?
Relationships: are you avoiding your friends or loved ones? Do you need extra distractions to keep your mind of things?
Family: has someone in your family or a friend said that they’re worried about you?
Exercise: do you feel like you don’t have any energy or are you exercising more than usual?
Drugs and alcohol: are you using these as a way to cope with your emotions?
Hobbies and Interests: are you losing interest in your usual activities and hobbies?
Self-Care: are you finding it harder to look after your personal care and hygiene?
Although it might feel difficult, talking to someone you trust, like a friend or relative, can be one of the best ways of starting to look after yourself and moving forward.
Sorted:Supported has some useful information on:
- How to start conversations
- Common feelings and problems, including feeling low, self-image, bullying, plus details of services that can support you.
Your GP/doctor can provide professional help and guidance. Talking about your mental health can be hard so DocReady have put together some tools that will help you prepare for the first time you visit a doctor.
You can also contact 111 option 2 for advice.
Sometimes you might know why. If you’ve experienced something upsetting or stressful, this can have a big impact, even if it happened a long time ago. Or perhaps something has happened but you haven’t realised that it is the problem.
And sometimes the reason isn’t obvious and it could be a combination of things.
The Sorted:Supported Coping with ‘Coping with Common Issues’ page provides information and guidance on a whole range of ways that people can be affected by things. The ‘What’s in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot’ page also contains a host of information about local services.
Self Help
In this digital age, there is a lot of virtual support available for help with mental health.
There are also a lot of self-help books available through your local library.
