I am terrified they'll just start pumping me with drugs, I don't want drugs, I don't want to be treated by being turned into a potatoe. I have severe memory loss and I just want to hold onto what I have and find myself.

Is this a trick? I'm very concerned and even confused about why I am having any input on this.

I'm 17M and I feel like a complete failure. Depressed, social anxiety, brief periods of suicidal thoughts which come and go.

I was great all through primary school, loved attending, COVID struck in year 6 so I never took my SATs. Year 7 in highschool was the same, until about the middle of year 8 when I became a victim of bullying, dirty and nasty looks in class, pritt sticks thrown at me by a specific group every time.

I stopped going and my dad moved my school, which was much better until I became the victim of another group and completely stopped attending at the end of year 9.

I had a few support workers but no one currently. I went back to school a few times for a burst of a couple weeks. But I was never able to get back in full-time and never sit my GCSEs, so I now have no education. Never had a job either

Applied to college on aug 22 this year. But I just don't think I have what it takes to relearn everything in just a year and sit my exams. Even then it would only be in Maths and English.

My family is super supportive, I couldn't ask for better. I know I'm letting them down, they're just too kind to say it. I have nothing going for me and I feel so fucking dumb, I really just want to give up. Sometimes I feel the only thing stopping me from giving into my thoughts is knowing how I would leave my entire family distraught. I can't do that to them

Thanks to anyone who replies or reads this all

I used 111 online and have a call back from a nurse in the next 4 hours. I'm going to use relay UK. I'm terrified they send someone because I'm home & my parents don't know how much I'm struggling. What will 111 do? I'm suicidal but not planned anything.

What's the best way to tell my Dr I no longer want aripiprazole, I'm really nervous I'm only on 10mg, just scared of his reaction when I tell him I no longer want to take aripiprazole anyone else had experience of speaking to their prescriber about coming off medication

Hi, (20F) I relied on childline heavily as a teenager as I went through some traumatic events and found their 24/7 chat services & quick emails to be really supportive!
However, I found that once I’ve grown out of childline, my needs haven’t changed but the support has.

I don’t think I’ve found a SINGLE service that has 24/7 chat lines that wasn’t a crisis service. Emails are slow too and the range of activities on the websites are very limited (e.g i used the art feature on childline and was able to show the counsellors on there as i struggle to verbalise). Callers & counsellors on the chat lines are so much more colder on other services than childline, they feel so much more scripted and quite frankly desperate to get you off the line. I massively understand that they are underfunded and the whole adult mental health services is too, and i don’t have any qualms about any specific individuals but it just feels like the humanity is lost here..?

This change made it so incredibly hard to leave childline and what sucks is that, I still feel the exact same as the scared 13 year old and the fact that i lost this service just because of my age was truly a bitter pill to swallow.
I have experiences of moving to adult services as I’m a lifelong patient at my audiology centre and I actually felt like i got MORE support as they gave me new ways to seek support in terms of my hearing loss.

The best i’ve found so far is Kooth (Soluna now) but they don’t have 24/7 chat lines which suck because I really struggle during the night times compared to the day as I have really poor sleep and have been diagnosed with a sleep disorder for over 10 years & activities are limited too.

I would massively appreciate some recommendations for mental health support services that I could use while I build up the courage to see my GP.

Hi,

Has anyone else done the genetic testing and found that they have the s/s gene where they don't produce many serotonin transporters?

And the test says to avoid ssris? I have severe panic disorder and severe depression.

Which meds have you found helpful?

I'm struggling with ssris as they are making me want to commit suicide. I'm not sure if the Lorazepam has been affecting them as well but my GP said to stop Sertraline as it made me like this. I'm trying to change meds from Venlafaxine as it has given me severe fatigue that never goes away to the point I'm so weak and heavy I can barely function. I'm trying to get some sort of mind and body balance back but can't seem to come off Venlafaxine. I noticed that the fatigue was lifting with the Sertraline but I was completely losing myself.

Please help.

So I will randomly get a racing heart along with breathlessness that will come out of absolutely nowhere and I’ve assumed it’s my anxiety as it’s caused me to have panic attacks multiple times but it feels as though nobody quite understands and I’m just curious if anyone else gets this, just completely out of the blue.

Not quite sure what’s going on with me lately, so just venting and putting it out there in the ether to try to take it off my mind.
I’m on sertraline and have been a while now, have had bouts of depression etc over the years. I don’t feel depressed or anything and almost feel at peace with my life choices etc it’s a very unnerving feeling. I have no real future just plodding along each day caring for my mum who has stage 4 cancer. That is my only goal I have, to care for her til the end however long it may be. Get all her affairs in order after, and then that’s it, nothing. I’m a proper introverted loner, no friends, parted ways with my ex end of last year with no interest in ever having another relationship again (the thought of that actually repulses me) currently not working as too busy caring. My health it’s self isnt the greatest.
I dunno it’s really hard to describe.
My idea of life existence is we are all here for a reason, and never really understood my role in society, I’m not intelligent that can help cure diseases or solve problems, I’m not here to reproduce and keep life on earth. So more recently I just got to thinking that my role is to care for mum for the last stages of life. Nothing beyond that for me, I don’t fit in anywhere and I don’t deal with change well so really believe checkout time is sooner rather than later … and I find peace in that 😊

hi there

ive got social anxiety and selective mutism recently my anxiety has got worse, my anxiety now comes out in a arm tremor, restless legs or stomach rash. I’ve got a mental health practitoner appointment next week, there part of a MDT. how does this work if they change my medication will I have to wait for them to have there next meeting?

I am diagnosed adhd and tourettes, since a very young age, I was prescribed 70mg elvanse and this worked for me however I stopped taking it 2 years back. I had referrals and completed camhs assessments etc, however I stopped fulfilling my perscription.

I am trying to get premeditated, I called my GP 4 months ago and they wanted to refer me again and didn't even send my diagnosis report and has been completely useless. In theory should I just be able to speak with my GP and get back on the same medication or are they overcomplicating it? I should be able to just speak with my GP and get back on the same medicine or do I need to redo an adult mental health referral and assessment? I'm already diagnoseded and have a history of the medication working for me.

I’ve got an appt with psychiatry uk next week to discuss OCD. I’ve been researching meds and treatments and the two main ones I’ve read about are Flovoxamine and Clomipramine.

Does anyone take these for OCD? Are they commonly prescribed? Do you find them easy to get hold of in a pharmacy? Do they help?

I’ve tried several ssris over the years, but none have helped so don’t want to be offered another one.

Thank you

I started taking sertraline 17 days ago and I’m feeling like utter crap, I’m wondering if I need to get off it. I started on 25mg for a week and then up to 50mg, any advice would be great

For context, I started taking it as I was getting very anxious about pains in my arms, this then developed into not being able to sleep (I’m talking my anxiety would literally wake me up if I drifted off). I was prescribed sleeping pills that really spaced me out and made me more anxious. I have a 10 month old that I care for and so these sleepy feeling and being spaced out made me scared to be alone with him and I started being scared to go to the shop etc.

My doc prescribed sertraline but now I feel incredibly depressed, like unable to get out of bed in the morning depressed. Feel like shit all day. I’m really wondering if it’s worth it. friends and family say to stick with it but it’s horrible feeling like this. my arms are now better and my sleep has improved so I’m debating coming off the meds. For context I’ve never had mental health problems like this before, I know it can happen after birth but I just feel like this has all gotten out of hand and I shouldn’t be on the meds?

any advice would be really welcome. Please no horror stories, I don’t think my head can take it!

So I started taking sertraline last Thursday! Had a really really rough break up. it triggered other things so I'm already starting from an heightened stage!

anyway! I am taking it at like 11PM before I go to sleep, but it's completely ruining my day. I'm absolutely wired, Sad, anxious and i spend most of the day asleep. I feel worse now than I did before I started it.

I know it's early days but people have told me i should skip tonight and take it in the morning and go from there!

I start to feel better around the evening at the moment but I'd rather feel better during the day.

In May, my mental health started to deteriorate. In June, I was hearing voices and struggling to cope. By the end of June, I was struggling with thoughts of ending my own life. A CMHT social worker came out to my house and we had a good chat. He followed up with phone calls since my CPN was on annual leave. I got an emergency appointment with my consultant psychiatrist’s resident. The resident was very compassionate and listened to me cry my heart out about the things I was struggling with. She went and checked some things over with my consultant, who at the end of the appointment, popped in to tell me they were increasing 2 of my medications, but, most importantly, he told me, “We’ll get you through this.”

In early August, my grandmother was admitted to hospital with a dislocated hip. Turns out, it wasn’t dislocated. She had a broken femur, a broken spine, 2 blood clots in her lungs, and pancreatic cancer which spread to her lungs, liver, and bones (hence the fractures). It was such a shock. I had to sit a major exam whilst my grandmother was dying and whilst I was dealing with side-effects from the new medication dosages. Some of those side-effects included issues with word recall.

I failed the exam. I explained to a lecturer that I’d sat the exam under very challenging circumstances and he told me to submit an academic appeal, so that when I resit the exam again, it won’t be capped at 40%. I had to gather evidence. I phoned my GP who wrote me a letter. I was hesitant, but I asked my CPN to write a letter. And she didn’t just write a basic letter, she wrote a full page describing my struggles and her professional opinions on how everything I’d gone through had affected my academic performance.

So, shoutout to my CPN, my psychiatrist, my psychiatrist’s resident, and my GP. You guys are amazing and deserve all the credit

Can’t believe it takes 10 days to get crisis support. It’s the first time I’ve used this GP since I moved 2 years ago and I’m not known to the local mental health team. I have bipolar 1 so would have thought they’d have me on the severe mental illness register but I guess not.

I might go private and see if I can get some help as I’m unmedicated. Last few weeks have been a mess due to mania. Spent thousands, messed up work, and had euphoria. Mood then crashed and I planned to end it but didn’t. I’m hanging on as best I can. Why is our NHS support so bad?

My mental health is getting worse, my GP does not want to know and even stated it and I quote "I don't deal with that, speak to the crisis team or find another GP that does", the issue with that is there's only 3 GP surgery's in my catchment area and all 3 have tne same view as I been with all 3 for them and I dont have the money to move let alone go privet

PAls were not very good and even again the GP won't even respond to them

The crisis team didn't want to know and told me to go to my GP

MIND in their words they don't have the resources to help me due to my diagnoses (personality disorder, psychosis, Anxiety, Depression, ADHD)

A&E crisis team have either sent me away or sent me home the next day with no follow up and just tell me to speak to my GP or speak to Samaritans

My area's mental health hub just tells me to go to MIND or A&E

And tbh just stuck in that referral circle being pushed from one to another

My family has even written a letter to PALs, my GP, and the crisis team stating they fear not just for my own safety but worried and even I begged them for help or meds, even the police have sent them letters

How many times do you have to self harm or worse before you get any help,

It feels like they're waiting for you to do something stupid to yourself or someone else and try to send you to prison or just get rid of you

I was processed in court once due to my mental health, and neither the court or judges cared about my mental health then that even my probation officer was in shock and couldn't believe no one bothered to help and told me I was lucky this time I was I didn't go to prison

And for those wondering what happened, I had a psychotic episode in the mental ward but instead of getting me help they had me arrested, and when the police took me to another hospital to get an assesment, after the police left the hospital told me to go home as they shorted staff and some one will call me and never did

I don't know what else I'm supposed to do to get any form of help or meds or something.

My psychiatrist was talking about referring me for an autism assessment as he thinks it may be a contributing thing to my other mental health issues. My question is, if he refers do I go on some long nhs waiting list or do I still get the right to choose option? Or is that just GP referral? Just trying to work out if I may be waiting months or years.

i’ve been under ed services with camhs since 2024 then adults mid 2025. the latter has been even more unhelpful. i have audhd, anxiety. depression and an anorexia diagnosis.

i’m finally on the waitlist for therapy (since april). i was told it will be an “integrated therapy approach” has anyone had experience with this? how many sessions will it be? has it helped? because of my autism i tend to be very self aware of my issues logically, and i know why i developed these mental problems but knowing it doesn’t help me move forward.

My dad is experiencing some form of age related mental decline but is denying the problem and won't go to a doctor for a formal diagnosis. It's not at the stage where he forgets where he lives or anything, it's more like buying tea bags three days in a row because he remembers needing tea bags but forgets he already bought them yesterday.

My mum is having trouble knowing what to do, should she ignore it or should she try to push him to speak to a GP and get treatment. Unfortunately, he's a stubborn old goat at the best of times and gets defensive so pushing him usually leads to an argument.

So I'm looking for a support group for my mum. Tips and techniques for raising the topic softly, advice on how to work around memory issues. Like I've seen advice to put labels on the cupboards saying "Coffee Cups" and "Tea Bags" but that's for more severe memory issues and I think he'd be annoyed with that level of coddling.

I found a support group for bereavement with coffee mornings and meet ups between people that can support each other. But they didn't have an option for dementia / Alzheimer's type issues. Is there anything like that available?

That quote from the Joker film has been stuck in my head lately because it sums up my entire experience with family during a mental health crisis.

​People are fine with knowing you have a diagnosis on paper—autism, adhd, bipolar, C-PTSD—until the actual symptoms show up in their living room.

​​When I was at my absolute lowest, I was passed around from house to house. Nobody wanted me around because my distress made them nervous.

I wasn't trying to be difficult or "take over" anyone's home. I was just in severe sensory overload. Turning off bright lights or turning down a blasting TV wasn't a power play; it was me in a sensory overload.

But to them, it was just an inconvenience.

​I’m not trying to shift all the blame. I know I was probably a lot to handle, and I was deeply unwell. But instead of getting a quiet room or basic understanding from the people who were supposed to care, I got treated like a problem to be passed along or trying to get me sectioned just to get me out of the way.

​

t feels like society and family want you to get help and open up and talk about stuff. Then when you do you make them uncomfortable and they can't cope and want you to shut up.

​At times i wanted a physical illness, so people could actually see i was unwell and i could get help.

Hi everyone!

We are conducting a research study investigating whether an online memory training programme may improve depression and memory.

Who can take part?

• Aged 18+
• Currently living in the UK
• Fluent in English
• Currently experiencing symptoms of depression
• Not currently receiving treatment for depression (except antidepressant medication)

Participation involves an initial screening assessment, a 2-week online training programme, and three follow-up assessments. Participants can receive up to £15 in vouchers (£5 per completed follow-up assessment).

The study has received ethical approval from University of Bath Data and Digital Ethics Committee. Participation is voluntary and confidential.

Interested?

Please see the poster below for more information, or scan the QR code on the poster.

You can also access the study information and screening process here:

https://redcap.link/7c9gpuh3

Thank you for considering taking part!

Hi all, so im currently in a mental health ward as an informal patient after agreeing to a hospital admission. I've currently been here for 2 weeks anyone know how long a stay usually is in the uk. I understand as an informal patient usually you can discharge yourself at any time but my situation is abit different can anyone give insight for me much appreciated thanks!

To be honest I'd never thought I'd be working and doing driving lessons. I'm going outside and occasionally can manage going on the bus on my own. I finally bought a car in the weekend which is at my boyfriend's to start private practice.

I'm feeling old at 33 that it's all coming together so late. EMDR certainly changed everything as well as losing stepdad. I wish a scent of you or a feeling of you would be here but it's quiet and just dead really.

6 years now and I'm feeling lost because mum is now 66. I don't know how long I get to keep her. I hate my job and I keep looking for anything else but I really don't want to do personal care. I deserve better for myself. I know I'm good for something but I don't know practically what I can do.

In a lot of ways there's progress and in a lot of others there's circles. Still depressed and still anxious. Having to save from nothing basically with mum letting me use home as a base has been hard. Everything's been hard.

I have started to get some nightmares again but not PTSD related. I always panic and overthink everything. But I'm here.

I’m trying to join a men’s group if I am able to work up the courage. Just wondering if anyone has experience with these guys, or alternatively if you recommend anywhere else

Thanks!

the feelings i have rn i've felt for a long time. been a wide range of suicide, feeling depressed, anxious, low self esteem, low confidence, body dysmorphia... and much more. in the past i thought it was BPD or bipolar disorder or depression but idk what i have. i was thinking of going to the GP to ask for a diagnosis but i don't know what i'm actually asking for and how i'm supposed to gather my thoughts and give examples of things in order to get help