Help with your mental health

Information about mental health and available services.

What's mental health?

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act and is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. It helps determine:

how we handle stress
relate to others
make choices.

Common mental health problems

Common mental health problems include depression and anxiety disorders (which can affect up to 15% of people at any one time in the UK). Some people may have more than one mental health problem (such as depression and anxiety). Common depression and anxiety disorders include:

generalised anxiety disorder
panic disorder
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
phobias about a specific thing (such as spiders) or situations (such as being embarrassed in front of other people)

Levels of mental health

The terms mild, moderate and severe are often used to describe different levels of mental health problems.

A mild mental health problem is when a person has a small number of symptoms that have a limited effect on their daily life.
A moderate mental health problem is when a person has more symptoms that can make their daily life much more difficult than usual.
A severe mental health problem is when a person has many symptoms that can make their daily life extremely difficult.

A person may experience different levels at different times.