Mental health

If you are experiencing depression, it’s important to reach out and get help. This can be from friend or partner in the first instance, but if your depression continues and you are struggling, it’s important to seek support whether it’s from your GP, talking therapies or community groups.

There are some common symptoms of depression that can last for a period ranging from weeks to months or even years. You might experience some or all of them:

• Feeling down, upset or sad
• Losing your appetite
• Having difficulty sleeping or wanting to sleep all the time
• Using more alcohol or drugs than you normally would
• Retreating into yourself – becoming less likely to go out and be social
• Feeling less interested in things you used to enjoy
• Losing interest in sex
• Having aches and pains in your muscles and joints
• Feeling like, or thinking about ending your life

If you are thinking of harming yourself or ending your life, you should seek professional help immediately. You can call 999, or contact Breathing Space or the Samaritans.

People who experience anxiety will often have symptoms that affect them emotionally and physically. Many of these symptoms are normal responses to stressful situations but could indicate a mental health issue if they are experienced either over a prolonged period of time (weeks and months) or are particularly intensely.

You may find that:

• you worry all the time, sometimes with no reason, or out of proportion
• you notice physical symptoms like feeling sick, losing your appetite, struggling to sleep (or oversleeping), losing interest in sex, feeling your heart racing in your chest, changing toilet habits, pins and needles
• you may feel your mind is racing with many thoughts – some of which may be unpleasant
• you have panic attacks – intense and sudden feelings of fear or discomfort, often accompanied with shortness of breath, nausea and a feeling of ‘losing control’
• you have a tendency to always see the negative things in any situation
• you avoid everyday situations that’s you may find difficult

Anxiety takes many forms, and services that are there to support people with mental health will be able to work with you to identify the factors that contribute to your anxiety and help you work through them.

Self harm or self destructive behaviour is when someone intentionally damages or injures their body, often at times when feelings of distress and anxiety become very intense. Self-harm is something that is often misunderstood – it is usually associated with cutting but it can take other forms, like repeatedly doing things that you know aren’t good for you.

Self-harm is often a physical response to emotional pain and can be used as a way of coping with difficult situations or feelings of overwhelm and distress.

Self-harm can take many forms, including but not limited to:

• Inflicting physical damage to your body such as cutting, burning, picking, pinching or hitting
• Having unprotected sex, or sex you wouldn’t normally have
• Intentionally putting yourself in risky situations
• Alcohol or substance use
• Starving yourself
• Over-eating
• Hair pulling
• Over-exercising
• Not taking medication

It is important to know that self-harm is not ‘attention seeking’ and that addressing it requires professional help. You should feel confident in accessing that, just like you would for any other health condition that affects your life.

If you are worried about self-harm, either for yourself or someone you know, you can get in touch with us and we can help you to access support.

Eating disorders refer to a number of conditions characterised by eating patterns that affect a person’s health and wellbeing.

The most well-known eating disorders are:

• Anorexia Nervosa, where a person restricts their food intake through dieting, fasting and exercise. People living with anorexia may also use purge activities to compensate for any food intake.
• Bulimia Nervosa , where a person binge eats before making themselves sick (purging) or engaging in other purging activities such as using laxatives, diuretics or enemas.
• Binge Eating Disorder, where a person regularly and uncontrollably consumes large amounts of food in short periods of time. People living with binge eating disorder do not purge or use other purging activities.
• Orthorexia, where a person has an intense fixation with eating ‘pure’ or ‘clean’ food. Although the term ‘orthorexia’ is not commonly used when diagnosing an eating disorder and, eating well is good for overall health, intense fixation on diet and healthy eating can sometimes go too far and put a person’s health at risk. This can often cause a severe distress and anxiety when they are faced with consuming something they don’t consider to be ‘clean’.

Eating disorders are often believed to mainly affect women, but this isn’t true. Eating disorders are more common than you might think among men, and the issue is widely under reported. Living with an eating disorder is a complex mental health condition which can lead to serious health complications, so it’s important to get help and advice if you’re worried about it.

When the word suicide is mentioned, it can often mean a lot of judgement and stigma that can prevent people from accessing help.

Suicidal thoughts are more common than you might think. SAMH (Scotland’s Mental Health Charity) reports that as many as 1 in 20 people are thinking about suicide at any one time, and we know this number is greater in gay and bisexual men and men who have sex with men, including trans men.

Just because you have suicidal thoughts, it doesn’t always mean you want to die.  For many, it is about the pain of feeling overwhelmed by their experiences or situation. It can also occur when finding it difficult to see a way through the pain they have or the circumstances they are living with. Often people might feel that it is more about not wanting to live rather than to die.

If you are really distressed and you think you might be at risk of harm or have done something that has caused harm, then this is an emergency, and you should access help immediately. You can do this by dialling 999, accessing the hospital emergency department or speaking with your GP. The Samaritans are available by calling 116 123 and are open 24 hours a day.