Mental Wellbeing
Tips and advice for managing Mental Wellbeing with a Long-Term Health Condition
Overview
Managing your physical health in combination with your mental wellbeing and thinking about things in a holistic way has been shown to improve people’s mood and help them manage the challenges of living with their health condition. It is common to feel distressed when you are experiencing a health condition. Distress affect’s people in different ways.
Here are some common psychological challenges that people can experience when they are living with a health condition:
- Low mood and depression
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Shock and disbelief
- Avoidance of people, places and things
- Feeling lonely, isolated and misunderstood
- Distressing thoughts and worries
- Panic and anxiety attacks
- Frustration and feeling irritable
- Anxiety and fear
- Self-perception change
Technique
Adapting to change
Adapting to change
Health conditions bring challenging physical symptoms and changes to your life that you did not expect. These changes can involve feelings of loss, changes to roles, lack
of structure, family, employment and financial challenges amongst others.
Accepting and adjusting to these changes is a process and this process is different for everyone; there is no right or wrong length of time. Accessing support and using recommended techniques for both your physical and emotional wellbeing can help you with this process. Aim to use a compassionate self-help approach whilst allowing yourself time
to adapt.
Urgent help for your mental health
Urgent help for your mental health
If you need urgent help for your mental health, you’re not alone.
There are people you can talk to right now who will listen and help you find the right support.
If you need immediate, life-threatening help, call 999 or go to A&E.
If it’s not life-threatening but you need help right now, call NHS 111 and select the mental health option. The phone will be answered by a call handler with mental health training who will be able to listen to your concerns and help you get the support you need.
