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The Control and Coping Behind Disordered Eating

Despite common belief, disordered eating is not just about food. Food is used as a coping mechanism for the difficult emotions felt by someone with disordered eating, and the behaviours portrayed do no justice for the complex ways of thinking responsible for them. For the purpose of this blog, I will be using descriptive terms and symptoms (e.g., disordered eating, food restriction, binging) rather than labels or diagnosis (e.g., eating disorders, anorexia, bulimia) to help combat the myth that ...

Mental Health Awareness Week Reflection, 10th - 16th May 2021

Hosted annually since 2000 by the Mental Health Foundation, the importance of mental health awareness is emphasised by many across the UK. This year it falls on the 10th of May through to the 16th of May and this year’s chosen theme is Nature. The organisation’s research has shown that nature has become an immensely popular way of people trying to improve their mental health. Whether this be done by walking through the countryside, cycling or just experiencing and interacting with the wilder...

Understanding Emotions

Understanding one’s own emotions whilst being able to express and communicate them effectively can lead to healthier mental well-being and aid mental health recovery. This blog will be looking at how to improve one’s emotional intelligence through the identification of unfamiliar emotions and how to manage them. Identifying EmotionsUnfamiliar emotions can feel intimidating, this section gives insight on how to identify and reclaim one’s feelings as a first step to understanding them. The ...

Bookmark Competition

Enter our Bookmark Competition!! Teenage Mental Health are running a FREE bookmarks campaign. We are working on providing schools free bookmarks for students with helpful advice and tips for issues surrounding mental health.  We plan to have the bookmarks ready to start distribution for the Easter half term.  What the bookmarks will contain, and more information. Our plan is to start distribution with Ipswich schools and others nearby in March, and gradually re...

Communicating with an Eating Disorder

Eating disorders can create tensions within families, causing arguments about food and treatment. This blog aims to help improve the communication skills between eating disorder sufferers and their families.If you are supporting someone through an eating disorderIt is important to focus on open communication and trust when talking to a person with an eating disorder. Focus on who you are talking to, what they may be feeling and remember to remove any blame you have placed upon yourself....

Surviving Christmas with an Eating Disorder

Navigating Christmas with an eating disorder can be anxiety provoking and stressful. Your family might prepare extravagant or unfamiliar foods and you may be expected to eat in front of extended family members. Changes to your usual routines around eating in addition to the pressure to eat or ‘indulge’ can be especially tricky to deal with. It is important to remember though that Christmas does not have to be all about food, rather it is about enjoying yourself and the company of others. Bel...

Self-Harm and Communicating your Problems

“TRIGGER WARNING- This blog contains information about self-harm which may be upsetting to some people”.Self-harm is when someone intentionally inflicts an injury on their body as a way of dealing with emotional stress or anxiety. Self-harming behaviours can include cutting, scratching, burning, punching hard objects, and swallowing objects....

Why do we dream and what can it tell us about our problems?

Dreams and the UnconsciousBefore the 1900s and the birth of psychoanalysis as a therapeutic discipline, dreams were thought to come from mystical sources. People thought that perhaps they were messages from God or a warning from the devil, and any dreams that couldn't be made sense of were dismissed as being nothing of importance. However, in the late 1890s Sigmund Freud started to look more closely at the content of dreams and what they meant for the dreamer. In 1900 he published his most well-...

Adolescent Mental Health in Lockdown

The March 2020 Covid-19 lockdown saw a significant increase in mental health problems with 83% of young people surveyed by Young Minds reporting that the pandemic had made their mental health worse. (https://youngminds.org.uk/media/3708/coronavirus/ report_march2020.pdf). Now as England heads into its second lockdown, young people’s mental health is once again at increased risk....

Healthy Body and Healthy Mind

“Exercise keeps me occupied, which is good for my mental health” (Gail Porter).How do you feel when you have finished exercising? You might be out of breath or your muscles might ache, but alongside that you might feel a sense of achievement and feel really good about yourself....

Young People’s Tidal Wave of Poor Mental Health

Let’s talk. As a mental health professional, I am becoming increasingly concerned about the health and welfare of our young people at this moment in time. You might think that this is going to be another discussion about Covid19, or about the creeping tide of obesity, or the sharp increase in alcohol consumption during lockdown. No, what terrifies me most is the ever-increasing tidal wave of mental health crisis facing our upcoming generation of young adults....

Finding the Right Therapist

World Mental Health Day on the 10th October 2020 aimed to raise mental health awareness and to make a contribution to ensure that those living with mental illness can lead better lives. It aimed to raise awareness about not only our mental health, but also how poor mental health can impact those around us too. On this day, many people took to social media to raise awareness of their own struggles, or to change their Facebook profile picture to the World Mental Health Day Logo....

Helping a Child with Death Anxiety

We live in a society which denies death. Death is viewed online, on television, and videogames, but this is all a step removed from seeing death on an everyday basis. The death and killing that happens with regularity through TV and films means that we can emotionally detach from it and become desensitised to the reality of the pain and grief associated with it....

Viewing Violence Online

On the 31 st August 2020, US army veteran Ronnie McNutt sat at his desk in his study, live streamed himself on Facebook, and shot himself in the head. The footage of his death was widely shared across social media and as the video went viral social media platforms struggled to contain its spread, resulting in potentially millions of views worldwide. Many of these viewers were young people who viewed it inadvertently through TikTok’s* recommended “For You” section....

Returning to School in the Shadow of Covid 19

On the 18th March 2020, the UK Government announced a Nation-wide shutdown of all UK schools, colleges, and nurseries. Asides from a priority group of children of key workers and those from vulnerable backgrounds who continued to attend school in social bubbles, all school children were sent home until further notice, with just two days’ warning.For many children, the sudden withdrawal from school created feelings of loss, frustration, abandonment, panic, fear, and even excitement. Many famili...

Exam Results Day – Stresses, Surprises and Uncertainty

In the UK this year A-level and AS level results day is Thursday, August 13th and GCSE results are released on Thursday, August 20th.But 2020 has been no ordinary year and these results will not be calculated nor delivered in an ordinary way.Previous generations of students will remember the nerves and excitement of sitting exams, in big school halls with all their friends. They will remember the excited buzz of finishing an exam, meeting friends and family afterwards to celebrate...

Coronavirus: Ten Top Tips for Supporting your Child

It is almost impossible to avoid the news about the coronavirus pandemic. Your child is likely to overhear grown up conversations, watch the news on the TV or online, listen to rumours from their friends, and they will inevitably notice significant changes to their daily activities. As a parent, you may notice a difference in your child’s behaviour as they navigate this unsettlingly time. They may have become more clingy, teary, angry, or distant. You may be wondering how you can best support ...