Mental Health and Wellbeing Support and Resources for Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs): The Mental Health Spectrum

Anxiety - Feeling anxious is an ordinary, everyday and often helpful reaction to new or stressful situations. For some people, anxiety can become a more serious experience that needs specialist help. 

• Acute Anxiety – Short episodes of intense anxious feeling, in response to a specific event.
• Chronic Anxiety - When feeling anxious has become a general response to most aspects of life, inhibiting our ability to engage in everyday activities.

Being anxious is a very physical experience, symptoms include light headedness/dizziness; dry mouth, ringing in the ears, racing heartbeat, chest pains, breathing difficulties, sweating, nausea, a need to go to the toilet, tingling sensations and shaky limbs. Those with chronic anxiety find that it is a habitual way of experiencing the world, and it can become very debilitating as it may prevent individuals from being able to function well, socially or at work or study.

Anxiety is a very physical experience and physical self-care is crucial – including regular exercise, mindfulness, sleeping well, reducing alcohol and caffeine intake.

Panic Attacks are a type of fear response - an exaggeration of your body's normal response to danger, stress, anxiety, or excitement. During a panic attack, physical symptoms can build up very quickly. Most panic attacks last between 5 to 20 minutes. They can come on very quickly, and symptoms will usually be at their worst within 10 minutes. Physical symptoms can include:

• A pounding or racing heartbeat.
• Feeling faint and experiencing nausea.
• Pain in your chest and struggling to breath.
• Feeling disconnected from your mind, body, and/or surroundings.

Before or during a panic attack:

• Focus on your breathing. It can help to concentrate on breathing slowly in and out while counting to five. Some people find this helps control their breathing.
• Focus on your senses - e.g., touch or cuddle something soft.
• Try grounding techniques. Grounding techniques can help you feel more in control. They are especially useful if you experience dissociation during panic attacks. Click here for a list of grounding techniques.

After a panic attack:

• Think about self-care. It's important to pay attention to what your body needs after you've had a panic attack. For example, you might need to rest somewhere quietly, or eat/drink something.
• Tell someone you trust. If you feel able to, it could help to let someone know you've had a panic attack. It could be particularly helpful to mention how they might notice if you're having another one, and how you'd like them to help you.

Click here for further information about panic attacks and self-care.

Depression - Depression is more serious than having a short period of feeling a bit low. Individuals with depression may feel persistently unhappy or hopeless for weeks, months or years. There is usually a loss of interest in things individuals used to enjoy. People with depression often report a sense of detachment from the world. It is common to feel tearful, and also to have difficulties with sleep, appetite or pain. There can be physical symptoms – including feeling constantly tired; poor sleeping; having no appetite; and various aches and pains. The symptoms of depression range from mild to severe. At its mildest, you may feel persistently low in spirit, while severe depression can make you feel suicidal, that life is no longer worth living.

• Talk to someone trust. It might feel hard to start talking about how you are feeling, but many people find that just sharing their experiences can help them feel better.
• Try peer support. Peer support brings together people who've had similar experiences to support each other. Many people find it helps them to share ideas about how to stay well, connected with others, and feel less alone.
• Look after your physical health. Experiencing depression can make it hard to find the energy to look after yourself. There is evidence that exercise can help lift your mood. Start gently by walking for 20 minutes everyday.
• Mindfulness is a way of giving your full attention to the present moment. Some studies show that practising mindfulness can help to manage depression.
• Have a routine. When people feel down, they can get into poor sleep patterns, staying up late and sleeping during the day. Try to get up at your normal time and stick to your routine as much as possible.
• Try to keep active. Joining a group; trying new things; volunteering; and setting realistic goals can help you feel good and boost your self-confidence.

Click here for further information about self-care and treatment.

Click here for information about suicidal feelings.

Anyone can experience eating problems. This is regardless of age, gender, weight or background.

• Eating Disorders - An eating disorder is a medical diagnosis. This diagnosis is based on your eating patterns and includes medical tests on your weight, blood, and body mass index.
• Eating Problems - An eating problem is any relationship with food that you find difficult. This can be just as hard to live with as a diagnosed eating disorder.

There is no single cause of eating problems. Most health professionals think they're caused by a combination of factors. Some factors may be biological, while others come from your surroundings or past. It might be hard to understand why eating has become an issue for you. The reasons can be complex and confusing.

People experiencing eating problems often share common traits. Certain traits may make you more vulnerable to developing an eating problem. Some common traits include:

• A desire for perfection.
• Rarely being satisfied with what you've done.
• Being very critical of yourself.
• Being overly-competitive about things.
• A lack of confidence in expressing yourself.

Eating problems are not just about food. They can be about difficult things and painful feelings. You may be finding these hard to express, face, or resolve. Focusing on food can be a way of hiding these feelings and problems, even from yourself. Eating problems can affect you in lots of ways - incl., depressed and anxious; tired a lot of the time; ashamed or guilty; and scared of other people finding out.

• It's hard to concentrate on your work, studies, or hobbies.
• Controlling food or eating has become the most important thing in your life.
• You want to avoid socialising, dates, and restaurants or eating in public.

Self-care can help you better manage living with your eating problems, and recovering from it. This can include:

• Talk to people you trust. If you are finding it hard to talk, try writing things down. For example, you might find writing a letter helps you set out your thoughts more clearly. Click here for more information.
• Seek peer support. Eating problems can make you feel ashamed, isolated and misunderstood. It can really help to talk to people who are going through something similar. 
  • Find further information and peer support from Beats - the UK's Eating Disorder charity.
  • Find further information and peer support from Student Minds.
• Change unhealthy routines. Routines around eating and food can be hard to break, but you might find that making small changes can help. This includes: [1] buying smaller amounts of foods if you are worried about overeating; [2] try to distract yourself whenever you find yourself focusing on your body; [3] find fun things to distract yourself after meals; and [4] try to think of some positive goals that are not related to food or calories.
• Look after yourself. Try to be as kind to yourself as you can.
  • Find further information about relaxation techniques.
  • Find further information about mindfulness.

Further information about treatment and recovery.

Psychosis and Altered States - Psychosis is when someone perceives or interpret reality in a very different way from the people around them, they are often said to have 'lost touch' with reality. They have experiences that are not real - usually seeing, hearing or believing things that are not real. These states are relatively rare, but it is important that we are aware that between 18-25 years of age is a key period for a first episode of psychosis. Psychosis affects people in different ways. People may experience it once, have short episodes throughout their life, or live with it most of the time.

Psychosis is widely misunderstood. When someone is experiencing a psychotic episode, they are actually much more likely to harm themselves or to be the victim of violence than they are to hurt others. Psychosis is an umbrella term for 3 types of symptoms:

• Hallucinations - Seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, feeling things that are not there.

• Delusions - Beliefs that do not appear to match those that may be widely viewed as 'reality'

• Disorganised Thinking - Things may appear jumbled and confused and this can be reflected in how someone may express themselves either through speech or the written word. 

  • Racing thoughts is when your thoughts go through your head very fast. It can involve them racing so fast that they feel out of control.

  • Flight of ideas is where your thoughts move very quickly from idea to idea, making links and seeing meaning between things that other people don't.

Many people find that they experience racing thoughts and flight of ideas at the same time. If you have disorganised thinking you might:

• Speak very quickly and stumble over your words so that other people may find it difficult to understand what you're are saying.
• Link words together because of the way they sound rather than what they mean, which can make speech sound jumbled to other people.
• Change the topic of conversation very quickly as your thoughts move from one thing to another.
• Find it difficult to keep your attention on one thing.

• Peer support brings together people who've had similar experiences to support each other. Click here for further information.
• It might be helpful to keep a diary of things that might have triggered a psychotic experience, such as: [1] life events; [2] your mood; [3] your diet; and [4] lack of sleep.
  • Keeping a diary can help you [1] understand what triggers your psychosis or makes it worse; [2] think about what has been helpful in the past; and [3] recognise warning signs that tell you when you are becoming unwell.
  • Once you have a better understand of your triggers, you can try to take steps to avoid or manage them.
  • Click here for relaxation techniques.
• Looking after your physical health can make a difference to how you feel emotionally. For example, try to get enough sleep; think about your diet; try to do some physical activity; and avoid alcohol.

Click here for further information about treatment and support.

Menopause and Mental Health – The menopause is a natural part of ageing that usually occurs between 45 and 55 years of age as oestrogen levels decline. Menopause has a variety of physical symptoms, such as tiredness; night sweats; insomnia; hot flashes; memory loss and tension – which can all cause you to feel distressed. During menopause, it’s common to experience mood changes – such as irritability; sadness; lack of motivation; aggressiveness; problems focussing; stress; difficulty concentrating; and depression. 

Much like constant premenstrual syndrome (PMS), these effects can cause emotional strain. If you have a pre-existing mental health problem, it’s possible that the effects of menopause could cause a relapse or change to your mental health. People with a history of clinical depression are often more likely to experience recurring depression during menopause. Menopause has been shown to increase symptoms of bipolar disorder – research suggests that people with bipolar disorder are more sensitive to hormonal shifts during menopause. 

Nobody’s life should be detrimentally affected by menopausal symptoms - so if you feel yours are impacting your research and work, then it’s important to seek help. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is very effective at treating menopausal symptoms. It also has other proven health benefits including reducing the risk of osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. For women under the age of 60 the benefits of HRT usually outweigh any risks.

If the symptoms of menopause are affecting your mental health and wellbeing – it is important to seek help from Support Services or the NHS.