If you’re having a mental health crisis, this is a time when you need immediate and urgent help. You may be feeling distressed, anxious, and depressed, and you may be experiencing panic attacks, suicidal thoughts, or considering self-harming.
It’s important to know that you don’t need to face these experiences alone. We want to highlight some ways that you can identify if you are experiencing a mental health crisis, so you can seek help as soon as possible.
What is a mental health crisis?
A mental health crisis is when you feel like you are unable to cope. You may feel helpless and need urgent help. It can happen to anyone, and may include experiencing:
- Severe anxiety
- Low mood
- Feelings of hopelessness
- Panic attacks
- Self-harm
- A psychotic episode. Psychosis is when people lose some contact with reality. This might involve seeing or hearing things that other people cannot see or hear (hallucinations) and believing things that are not actually true (delusions).
What causes a mental health crisis?
Many different things may contribute to a mental health crisis, a few being:
- Relationship breakdown
- Debt or financial worries
- Housing issues
- Loneliness
- Discrimination
- Bereavement
- Long-term stress
- Unemployment
- Long-term health conditions
A mental health crisis is when you feel no longer able to cope with your problems. You may feel at a breaking point, with nowhere to turn to for help.
Please don’t wait until you are in a mental health crisis before you look for help. It’s never too early to get support. If you have been feeling low, worried, stressed, or anxious, there is help waiting for you. Click here to find your local NHS Talking Therapies service.
I’m in a mental health crisis, where can I get help?
If you think you are in a mental health crisis, it’s really important that you get support quickly.
If you’re in immediate danger of hurting yourself or someone else, call 999 or visit your local A&E department. You should be taken as seriously as a physical emergency.
If you’re not in immediate danger, here are three good sources of support:
- Call your local NHS urgent mental health helpline.
- Samaritans (24/7 confidential support by phone) – call 116 123
- Shout Crisis Text Line (24/7 confidential support by text message) – text ‘SHOUT’ to 85258, or text ‘YM’ if you’re under 19
Click here for other ideas on the NHS website.
No one should struggle on alone – we’re here to make sure they don’t.
References:
- https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/mental-health-services/where-to-get-urgent-help-for-mental-health/
- https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/
- https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/mental-health-problems-introduction/about-mental-health-problems/
- https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/a-z-topics/crisis-care
