Category: Mental Health Conditions

Lourdes Colclough is Rethink Mental Illness’ Head of Suicide Prevention. She talks to us about the part we play in suicide prevention and demonstrates the power of the community to change and save lives.

Some people associate their happiest memories with long summer days and experiencing the benefits of the warmer months. However for people with anxiety disorders, the heat may increase their symptoms of anxiety, and the summer months can feel the most difficult to face. 

Ramses Oliva is a valued colleague at Mental Health UK, as well as a transgender inclusion specialist and writer. One of his biggest struggles growing up was not having the words to describe his identity. Not only did this not stop him from being gay and transgender, but it also made it extremely difficult to ask for and receive help. Here’s his story.

Living with a mental illness can have a profound effect on your own life but also on family members’ lives, because they often take on a vital role in ensuring their relative has a good quality life. We spoke to Rich and his dad about what it was like living in a house where OCD dictated their day-to-day life.

Sophie is a 26-year-old mental health advocate who has lived with OCD for 11 years. She won a Bill Pringle Award with Rethink Mental Illness for her poem on managing OCD in 2019 and has spoken publicly about her experience on radio and on social media. She is open and vocal about mental health and mental illness because she knows first-hand how isolating and scary it can be in the beginning.

A new study cites financial worries, entertaining guests and keeping everyone happy as key factors in peoples’ mental health worsening over the festive period.

Our close supporter, James, was diagnosed with the eating disorder Anorexia Nervosa 6 years ago. He is a mental health advocate who raises awareness about how eating disorders can impact men, what some of the triggers are and how to manage the challenges they bring. Watch the video below where he brings his personal story to light, with the aim of improving mental health and reducing the stigma that still exists today.

It’s common for women to experience mental health problems as a result of the hormone changes which happen during menopause. We also hear from Elizabeth, who told us her experience of how menopause affected her mental health and how she’s managing her symptoms.

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we work, live and interact with others. This is all bound to have an impact on our mental health, but it isn’t always bad. Liz shares with us how she’s finding lockdown with bipolar disorder.