r/MentalHealthUK

I always used to feel like I suffered with SAD and hated the dark months but as I've gotten older I feel like I have a dip at this time of year. It's almost like an edgy over readiness. Inpatient. Blunt. Low tolerance threshold. Wanting to scream but low energy. Whereas I'd hope to feel a buzz for the extra sun and lighter evenings. I have had a rough few years due to nightmare neighbours who finally left last year. I'd come to prefer dark nights due to the chronic ASB that we suffered and I think the whole thing has made me a bit agoraphobic and preferring the outdoors to be quiet, which is more likely when the weather's rubbish. Just a dip hopefully.

I have no life 25F I've spent my adult life rotting away doing the bare minimum to survive. I'm full of shame, social anxiety, hopelessness, and low energy. I've tried therapy (professional and at home), exercise, healthy eating but do you know how hard that is to keep up with when you have no will or energy to live?

One of my biggest issues is shame. I was the ugly nerdy girl growing up. I was bullied and treated like an alien and still find that happens even as an adult. I think I could've gotten better but to top it off my parents were horrible to me as an older teen as I was failing school due to bad mental health. I'm so ashamed when socialising with others. I feel like a predator. How am I meant to get help?

How do you cope with loneliness, especially if you’re introverted?

I do the things everyone says to me- finding new hobbies, looking after myself and treating myself, exercising consistently and eating healthy etc, but the loneliness is just always there.

When I spend time with people, it takes a lot of social energy to be in those situations and whilst I don’t feel lonely whilst in the situation, I never feel as comfortable. And if the social situation makes me anxious then I just regret it and would prefer being alone to the anxiety it creates.

Hi guys, 18F here.

So, for context, I used to be in competitive ice-skating with my bsf who later became my bf.

Me and my bsf/bf, Theodore, Theo for short, met in kindergarten, we became inseparable by 2nd grade and he moved away to Nottingham by 3rd grade and I basically switched continents due to my mom's transferable job at the time. His parents and my mom were in constant contact these few years that we were away. Post few years later, I'm 11 now and I move to Edinburgh to go into a boarding school there and that's where I met him again, he still looked the same as he did when I last saw him and we hugged and spent the entire day roaming the hallways. Our boarding basically looked like Hogwarts from Temu and we used to joke about it a lot.

We started becoming very close and I had started to like him, around the age of 12, he and I joined ice skating together and decided to give competitive ice-skating a shot since our coach thought we were a really good duo since we were always in perfect sync, the coach wanted us to go for the tryouts of the unde-18 nationals championshis. We had our wins and losses in competitions but we didn't really care about it because we just did it for the fun of it. We started dating when we were 13.

2 yeats later Theo was was diagnosed with 2nd stage pancreatic cancer. He already had a very poor immune system but he didn't let cancer get in the way of how he lived or how he behaved with others. He was always respectful, warm, sweet and gentle to everyone but he hated people seeing him sick. Theo didn’t want to be remembered like that but I was there, through all the hospital visits, the sleepless nights, all the chemo and specially on the days he got worse.

I stayed till the end. I was there when he took his last breath and 3.5 years since I have never stepped on the ice again and I think I don't know how to say this but I feel like I'm drowning and I js feel so suffocated.

Hi everyone.

before anyone says it I know it's not advised to go cold turkey and not something I wanted to do.

I've been on 40mg citalopram for around 5 months due to going through a really stressful period in my life. I'm now out of the other side and in a miles better place.

my plan was to start tapering when I collected next prescription. However even though I requested my repeat with 9 days notice, due to the bank holiday and my pharmacy not being the quickest I ran out 3 days ago. I did go to the pharmacy and pretty much beg them as I was going on holiday and they promised the night before I left they'd arrange for it to be left on a locker I could collect after they closed but this didn't happen and I'm now away for 2 weeks without anything so going cold turkey.

when I return I will have had 2 full weeks off them.

up to now I've just been irritable, what should I expect and has anyone gone cold turkey and suggest whether I push through after the 2 weeks or jump back on them to start a taper?

With me only being on them for around 5 months is it easier to go cold turkey?

This is abit of a rant, so apologies in advance. Feel free to just answer the question above instead of reading my drivel :)

I've been on propranolol SR 80mg for over a decade. Originally for anxiety. I was switched to instant release 40mg 3x a day in November when the shortage started. At first it was twice daily, but it wasn't working properly.

I'm wondering if anyone has manage to find any in stock anywhere? my GP gave me a paper prescription and told me to ring around pharmacys in the area to see if they have any, but no joy.

I'm seeing online in a few places that are saying it's now going to be back in stock in July.

I've had to stop my ADHD medication because of all this, and I'm honestly really struggling. As a partner and new dad, at work... it's really having such a negative effect on my life. My heart rate is constantly up, as is my BP. I had a 7 day ECG last week and can't restart the ADHD meds until I get the results, but I'm doubtful that will happen due to the insane palpitations I've been having.

I'm just absolutely fed up. Sorry for the rant. Thanks in advance

He's been diagnosed for mental health 68 years old and was generally fine but has recently (last 3 months) really deteriorated as in not washing, drinking heavily, hearing voices. Actually to the point where he is now struggling to walk, soiling himself and is just is a shell of the man he was. Today he was relatively sober and said he would be open to some help. If any of you lovely people could point me in the right direction to get some help for him I would be greatfully appreciative. I ain't sure which route to take whether it would be the local council or maybe 101.

Edit: this is about NHS services

I (27f) have been struggling with my mental health following a series of traumatic incidents at work in 2023-24 that left me feeling very unsafe. I no longer work there and the environment got very toxic before I had to leave.

I've been under the care of my GP since June/July 2024 for depression, anxiety and panic attacks, tried four different antidepressants that ranged from actively making me worse to not really making a difference. After referring myself to Talking Therapies/IAPT and waiting 8-9 months (persued private therapy during this time, not successful), I was discharged past September with worse scores and agoraphobia. The only positive was my therapist suspected I may have autism and I was diagnosed ASD L1 in September 2025.

My GP referred me to the Living Well after IAPT failed to do so. There were issues with the referral so I had my first appointment (phone call) with the psychiatry team at the hospital March 10 this year. The doctor suggested started Venlafaxine and said it has few side effects... I'm dubious about medication from my experiences anyway and I do not want to try it having read about it (NICE website, etc.). The doctor said he'd refer me to the CMHT for therapy or something, because normally they'd discharge back to GP and IAPT, both of which haven't helped. I have no time frame for CMHT because they're a separate department in the hospital.

I've got another appointment next month, where a member of the hospital outpatients psychiatry team is coming out to see me. I don't want it to be another appointment where I've told about another pill to try. The MDT have discussed my case and approved the home visit but I actually want some help. I don't know what I need because I'm all out of ideas.

Has anyone found MDT involvement helpful?

Has anyone got positive experiences with Living Well/CMHT?

Is there anything I should be mentioning or saying to get the help I want?

Is there anything I should do to prepare for the home visit?

Thank you in advance for any advice given and experiences shared.

Long story short- I am in a position where I want to seek help for my mental health but my past experiences with NHS mental health services are so distressing and traumatic that I am scared to seek help again.

Because of this I’m thinking of going private but I have no idea where to begin and I’m concerned that I’ll have similar experiences.

To be open I was a lot sicker then than I am now and I think some of the issues I am experiencing now are in part due to the experiences I had under NHS mental health services.

I would like to get a diagnosis and to understand what treatment would be right for me, as I was forced into lots of therapies that had no impact- how do I do this via private providers? Any help appreciated!

TW: suicide, self-harm, eating issues, SA, Abortion

I’m 21F and I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. I’m not in immediate danger and I’m not about to act on anything, but I feel like I’m getting worse and no one is actually helping.

Over the past week things have escalated a lot. I’ve been having constant suicidal thoughts, and a few days ago I had a plan that I’d been thinking about for a while. I didn’t act on it, but it scared me how real it felt.

I’ve also been seeing things for months (shadow figures, feeling like someone is there or watching me), and recently it’s got more intense – like seeing actual people or really distressing images linked to suicide. I know it’s not real, but in the moment it feels real and I have to check.

I’m under mental health services (cmht to be exact) but it feels like nothing actually happens. There’s been talk about medication for ages but no one follows it up. I saw my GP and they took it seriously, but even then it feels like everything just gets passed around as they’ve gave me appointment with their CPN.

It honestly feels like you have to get to absolute breaking point before anyone actually does anything.

For context, I’ve been dealing with a lot – including SA, eating-related behaviours, really bad anxiety & depression, SH and a recent abortion – and I don’t really have support from friends or family. I feel like everything has just built up and now it’s all hitting at once.

I don’t even know what I’m asking for. I just feel stuck, like I’m getting worse and watching it happen, and the people who are supposed to help aren’t actually doing anything.

Has anyone been in a similar situation with services? Did anything actually help or change?

I was in a relationship with one of my oldest friends. He was in a difficult marriage and is disabled and I had my own issues.

Eleven years ago, I found out that my daughter, then 13 had been abused by my father. Obviously a lot has happened but the upshot was that I dealt with all the fallout myself and protected both of my children and have brought them up into two very decent and happy adults.

I neglected my own needs and didn’t want or care for a relationship and I lived my life accordingly. I knew I was mentally unstable but I kept everything together and had complete control of my life.

When I met my partner and began a relationship with him, I hadn’t previously seen him for 40 years and I didn’t know that he had been in an accident and had become a paraplegic. I was sad that no one bothered to tell me and he had become a reclusive alcoholic with no love in his life. We became happy together but I was so wobbly with everything and suddenly realised that I was finding it hard to conduct a normal relationship until one day he just ended it and said that we weren’t making each other happy.

Within a few days of this, I had what I can only describe as a completely mental episode. I spent a day texting vile abuse to him followed by being sad and begging for forgiveness and then anger again. It was like I’d lost my mind.

It’s been awful and I still feel terrible now. I’m still not in a good place and I have contacted the doctor with a request for counselling.

I’ve ruined the best relationship with a lovely man and the person I’ve become is not me at all or has never surfaced before.

I am honestly lost and devastated and can’t even begin to look forward in anyway.

I know this is a resurface of CPTSD and I haven’t had any sort of therapy for years and everything has built up.

I just want my lovely partner back

Hi, I'm an over 50 heavily suicidal man. My GP has referred me to the Home Treatment Team. I asked to be referred to talking therapy and the team referred me to the Living Well Consortium.

Apparently, the waiting list is about 6 to 8 weeks, which is not good in itself (I've already gone to a PDU once). But what worries me is that the reviews are not very good and I have also been told that I'd get 6 to 8 weeks of treatment, after which I'll be discharged and then I'd have to wait 12 weeks to self-refer me again. I find this very worrying.

Has anybody any recent, direct experience with the Living Well Consortium ?

Otherwise, should I look for private therapy? I wouldn't know where to start. My case is quite complex and I worry that private therapist wouldn't want to deal with such a deep case.

I don’t know where to start but I need to get this out and find people who understand.

I’m from the UK. In October last year everything collapsed. It started after an adverse reaction to A medication called mirtazapine. I had been on sertraline before, came off it after a year, and was switched to 15mg mirtazapine. For about 5 weeks I actually felt alive on it strong emotions, warmth, genuine happiness, caring about people. Then I had what felt like a serotonin overload reaction and had to come off it immediately. The trauma of that reaction triggered a severe OCD episode, harm OCD and doubt OCD alongside depression and severe emotional blunting. I was put back on sertraline specifically to correct this and stabilise my brain chemistry.

I moved to Lincolnshire to be with my surrogate dad  I’ll call him G. He’s 745 and became my anchor, my safe person, my entire support structure. I went through the worst parts of my illness there with him beside me. But the PTSD from everything I had been through kept me stuck, and I couldn’t progress in that environment. So G made the decision to move me into his flat in Hemel Hempstead  a flat connected to the house where his daughter Laura lives.

The flat already held happy memories for me from before I got ill I had spent time there and it was associated with good feelings. That made it the perfect safe space for recovery. Being there felt like a bridge back to the version of me that existed before all of this. It was exposure therapy in the truest sense  learning to be on my own again, gradually getting back to real life. I was doing the hard work of rebuilding, not fully there yet, but genuinely making progress.

The sertraline journey has been brutal. 150mg caused severe emotional blunting I couldn’t feel enough to dismiss OCD thoughts. Dropped to 125mg but that wasn’t enough either. The plan was to step down to 100mg to try to restore emotional salience. I had only been on 100mg for 8 days when the crisis hit  I was already in the middle of the initial destabilisation from that dose change, my system already fragile and adjusting, when everything collapsed around me.

Then one night a friend visited and smoked weed in the flat despite being told not to. G’s daughter Laura found out three days later and told me to pack my bag and leave immediately. G supported her decision.

In one moment I lost my home, my surrogate dad, Laura, her husband, her kids  people I was close to. Everything. Gone. The entire safe space I had been carefully building my recovery around a place that held happy memories, a place that felt like home destroyed overnight because of someone else’s mistake, I cut that friend off after 10+ years of friendship and his weed addiction that had caused me trouble before. I was the only one who paid the consequences.

The night that followed was the worst of my life. Alone in a hotel, feverish, shaking inside and outside, dissociating, in nicotine withdrawal because I’d thrown my vape away in the crisis. Sleeping in 15 minute broken cycles waking up extremely anxious each time. I called 111 twice. Paramedics checked on me. I sent messages I’m not proud of. I blocked and unblocked G multiple times. By morning I managed to send one calm message  “I am safe and found somewhere for tonight.”

Now I’m staying at a friend’s place. I wake up every morning shaking, flooded with cortisol, just wanting the night to come back. I am in constant anxiety all day and just can’t even get out of bed, The OCD is loud again. The emotional blunting is back. All the progress I worked so hard for feels like it’s gone.

It feels like square one. It feels like everything I built got taken away because of someone else’s mistake and I’m the only one living with the consequences.

I just want to hear from people who hit their rock bottom and came back. People who understand OCD, emotional blunting, losing your safe person, starting over