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Your wellbeing and health

Some common mental health problems

Anxiety

Anxiety is very common. If there's a very difficult situation at work or at home, the stress that this causes can spill over into other parts of life and create anxiety. It is not always clear to the anxious person exactly what it is they feel so anxious about. They're just aware of feeling anxious all the time.

People with anxiety may find that they:

easily lose their patience
can’t concentrate well
think constantly about the worst outcome
can’t sleep well
become depressed and/or
only think about one subject

They can feel:

very thirsty
stomach upsets and loose bowel movements
frequent urinating
strong pounding heart at times
dizziness
painful or no periods

Depression

Everyone feels unhappy sometimes. But when it is most of the time and you just can’t pull yourself out of a ‘black hole’, or feel so alone – that’s when depression is a more serious issue.

You might have depression if you:

feel you have no energy
your eating habits change
feel like crying and don’t know why
have difficulty getting to sleep
feel angry and irritable
use alcohol or drugs to lower stress
feel helpless
can’t be bothered to do everyday things
get regular headaches
worry about how you look, such as spots or weight
lose interest in your usual hobbies or friends
feel there is no one to talk to or no one understands

Alzheimer's disease and dementia

Often as we get older, we may start to forget things that happened recently but remember things that happened a long time ago. Most of the time this is part of growing older but sometimes it might be a sign of dementia. Many different brain disorders can cause a loss of brain ability. They happen slowly. One of the most common types of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. People with this might:

be confused about time and place
self-neglect
be restless
have a tendency to wander aimlessly
sometimes saying or doing outrageous things
mood can be sad, anxious or agitated
thinking can become slow and muddled

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a very misunderstood illness. About one per cent of people will develop this in their lifetime. It can be a very troubling experience for someone and their family, but there is hope – nearly a quarter of people who develop schizophrenia make a full recovery. If you're worried that a friend or relative may have schizophrenia, take a look at the first warning signs:

keeping away from people and family
always tired or sleepy, or lack of sleep
unable to concentrate
not taking part in activities
not being bothered by important news or events
strange behaviour
unusual focus on spirituality
speaking muddled or not clearly
not paying attention to personal hygiene
not doing well in studies

Self-harm

Self-harm might be something you don’t hear about much, but it is a problem that happens a lot. Sometimes bad feelings inside you can build up and give you a lot of worries. When you bottle things up so much and things get so bad that pressure builds up, that is when some people harm themselves. Many people hurt themselves secretly for a long time before they find the courage to tell people.

Publications

Your health chapter from the Guide to Care at Home