Mental Health... Information
The Devon and Torbay Mental Health Services are developing and on-line directory of the range of services. Register as a Festival Friend and you will be contacted as soon as it is available.
Browse this page for:
Common Causes of Stress
Signs of being under too much stress
Ten tips to tackle stress
What are mental health problems
Looking After Your Mental Health
Life is not always easy! There will always be stresses, and stress is important in our lives. It motivates us and without it we would do nothing. But it can build up, it can become overwhelming or hit us when we’re already coping with too much. (And too much varies for different people and at different times.) Finding ways of dealing with your stress in a positive way will help you look after your mental health and recover from times of mental ill-health.
Common causes of stress include:
- loss of someone close
- relationship breakdown
- financial worries
- being bullied
- feeling powerless in your work or having too much to do
- being unemployed
- worrying about someone else
- being angry and not being able to resolve it
- not being able to do the things that you enjoy
Signs of being under too much stress
Physical Signs:
feeling breathless, chest pains, constant tiredness, constipation or diarrhoea, headaches, frequent crying, impotency or frigidity, feeling sick or dizzy, restlessness, change in appetite, sleeping problems, tendency to sweat.
Emotional Signs:
feel aggressive,irritable, bad or ugly, neglected, that there is no-one to confide in, hopeless and dread the future, fear disease or failure, take no interest in life and lose your sense of humour.
Changes in Your Behaviour:
avoiding difficult situations, denying there is a problem, difficulty concentrating, difficulty making decisions, inability to show true feelings.
Twelve tips to tackle stress
- Most of the tips here are common sense - but that’s often the first thing to go when we’re over stressed.
- Make the connection. Could the fact that you’re feeling under-the-weather be a response to pressure?
- Learn to relax. Follow a simple routine to relax your muscles and slow your breathing.
- Improve your lifestyle. Find time to eat properly, get plenty of exercise and enough sleep. Avoid drinking and smoking too much (delete). However much you believe they can help you relax, they’ll have the opposite effect.
- Get better organised. Make a list of jobs; tackle one task at a time; alternate dull tasks with interesting ones.
- Sort out your worries. Divide them into those that you can do something about (either now or soon) and those that you can’t. Those that you can’t change, there’s no point worrying about.
- Change what you can. Look at the problems that can be sorted and get whatever help is necessary to sort it out. Learn to say ‘no’.
- Look at your long-term priorities. Step back and examine what it is about your life that’s giving you too much stress. What can you off-load, or change? How can you introduce a better balance between work, social life and home life? Is it time to reassess your priorities?
- Confide in someone. Don’t keep emotions bottled up.
- Be creative - it’s a good way of expressing feelings and seeing the world differently.
- Focus on the positive aspects of your life
- Get help - contact some of the organisations and help lines listed inside this leaflet, or see your GP
What are Mental HealthProblems?
Feelings of depression, anxiety or confusion are normal responses to the ups and downs of modern life. A person is described as experiencing mental health problems when such feelings are so extreme that s/he has difficulty carrying on everyday life.
Depression
This covers a wide range of psychological distress including lowered mood making everything harder to do and seem less worthwhile. It can be life-threatening when very severe, leading to thoughts of suicide. There are some specific forms of depression such as PostNatal Depression and seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
Anxiety States
These are described as having chronic fear, tension and panic attacks. Obsessive/compulsive Disorder is a specific form of anxiety state , where people feel they have no control over their thoughts or ideas.
Eating Disorders
Starving to the extent of severe, sometimes life-threatening slimness is diagnosed as ‘anorexia nervosa’. Compulsive eating and vomiting is known as ‘bulimia nervosa’. Both behaviour patterns are a way of coping with psychological or emotional problems.
Psychosis
Psychiatrists use this term when someone seems unable to distinguish clearly between what is real and what is imaginary, or what is internal or external to their own thought processes. The term ‘schizophrenia’ is used to describe a state of mind in which people thoughts and perceptions go beyond the range of normal experience.
Bi-polar Disorder/ Manic Depression
Some people experience profound changes in their mood, which can switch from depression and lethargy to periods of elation and overactivity.
Personality Disorder
This term is used to describe long-lasting, inflexible and a limited range of attitudes and behaviours which are unhelpful and distressing. They make it difficult to develop friendships, maintained stable relationships and work co-operatively with others.
Self Harm
Whilst this isn’t a diagnosis of mental health problems, it is a common response to distress. It covers a wide range of behaviour which cause personal harm, from neglect through to active injury. |
