Mental health problems affect 1 in 4 people every year and no one should feel ashamed. By sharing our experiences, together we can end the stigma.

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How I'm looking after my mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic

Anna, April 15, 2020

As someone with a chronic anxiety disorder, and intermittent agoraphobia, it is essential for my mental health to keep to a routine, be busy, go out regularly, and maintain social contact.

Yet today, amidst a global pandemic that has seen many countries on lockdown as the death toll continues to rise, these things are increasingly hard to do.

Social distancing doesn't mean we have to stop talking about mental health

Angela, April 8, 2020

All of us can appreciate some degree of negative impact on our own wellbeing with the current advice on self-isolation and social distancing. As somebody with mental health problems the current situation is both increasing my anxiety levels and reinforcing my negative thoughts and subsequent low mood. Indeed all the ‘usual’ things I would do to help manage my mental health are out of bounds; Park Run, meeting friends or going to the cinema.

It's not what it looks like - I have anxiety

Jenna Bella Oldridge, April 1, 2020

“Can you pull over by here please?” I ask the taxi driver. 

“Are you sure?” he replies, “because I can drop you at the gate?”

“No, by here is fine.” I tell him. I pay my fare and exit the car as quickly as possible, looking around to make sure none of my colleagues are about. 

I've gotten the taxi driver to drop me at the side of my workplace building, instead of at the front. This is to make sure less people see me arrive in a taxi.

There needs to be more acceptance of schizophrenia

John, March 26, 2020

My diagnosis is schizophrenia. I’ve had four catastrophic breakdowns in my lifetime; three of these were so severe that I was sectioned under the mental health act. However, for some 12 years during the intervening period of my 3rd and 4th breakdown, I was largely mentally healthy, engaging in relationships and work.

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