Self Care and Mental Health

Self care is a bit of a buzz word at the moment, with tonnes of articles about the benefits of taking time out to look after yourself. Sometimes, self care is used as another way to describe pampering, with things like bubble baths or face masks cited as a type of self care. Self care … Read more

Not Ill Enough

Imagine living with depression. It affects every aspect of your life, from your work to the time you spend with your family. You experience intrusive negative thoughts. You begin to suffer from insomnia, which in turn increases feelings of anxiety. Imagine living with depression, but being told you are not ill enough to qualify for … Read more

Gut Microbiomes and Mental Health

One exciting and emerging field of mental health research which is gaining in popularity is the relationship between microbiomes in our gut, and our mental health. Our gut microbiome contains up to 1 trillion bacteria, as well as viruses and fungi, which form a kind of ‘eco-system’. Our microbiome begins forming after birth, and can … Read more

Time to Talk Day 2018

Today, February 1st, is Time to Talk day in the UK. This campaign aims to reduce the stigma and discrimination around mental illness, and encourage people to talk about their mental health. Days like today which aim to raise awareness of mental health problems are important to change the conversation around mental health. By raising … Read more

Dialectical Behavioural Therapy

Talking therapies such as cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) are well-known treatments for some mental illnesses including anxiety and phobias. Today’s post is about a type of CBT which isn’t as well known: dialectical behaviour therapy, or DBT. CBT focuses on changing unhelpful thoughts and behaviours which cause the continuity of illness – for example changing … Read more

A week of Mindfulness

I’m sure by now you’ll have heard of mindfulness. It seems to have exploded in popularity in recent years, and is recommended as everything from a cure for severe depression to improved concentration. Mindfulness can be described as being aware of the present, in particular how we feel on the inside. It generally involves bringing … Read more

Orthorexia – a new type of eating disorder?

You might have heard some of the negativity in the press recently about so called ‘clean eating’ and it’s advocates, who promote a lifestyle which involves cutting out any processed food and often entire food groups (gluten/dairy etc). This is not because of any medical reason, but simply just to be as ‘healthy’ as possible. … Read more

Body Image Therapy for Anorexia – what is it and how does it work?

Today’s post is for eating disorder awareness week, which this year has a focus on early detection and intervention. Often, sufferers are unable to access treatment until they have been ill for some time, which makes recovery so much harder than if treatment happened once symptoms first began. As well as having obvious benefits for … Read more

Behavioural Activation

This week’s post is about a technique used as part of cognitive behavioural therapy for people with depression. As you probably know already, symptoms of depression include low mood, low self-esteem, feelings of anxiety and helplessness, and having low motivation and interest in activities which they previously enjoyed. Behavioural activation focuses on the ‘B’ of … Read more