We provide support for carers caring for those with physical and mental health conditions. We recognise that while incredibly rewarding, the challenges that come with the role can impact the mental health of the carer.
Anxiety can impact many different areas of life. For some people with health anxiety, it might focus on a fear of having cancer, for people with obsessive compulsive disorder it might focus on a fear of becoming contaminated by dirty objects, for generalised anxiety disorder it has a wide focus, where the person often finds themselves worried about lots of different things, one after the other. Other anxiety disorders include panic disorder (where physical symptoms are interpreted as an immediate threat to life or wellbeing), phobias (for example spiders or heights), social anxiety (fear of making a fool of oneself or being judged when socialising).
Although the focus of anxiety can be different for each of the above conditions, and the specific traits of it vary from person to person, anxiety disorders have various things in common.
All anxiety disorders have fearful thoughts, or predictions, about what is happening or might happen. These thoughts create a sense of threat, which activates our fight or flight system.
Depression is a common mental health problem. It affects the way people think about themselves, their situation, the future, and how they view the way in which people interact with them. These thoughts can make people feel very low in mood, sad, lonely, or sometimes empty.
This also brings on physical symptoms, such as lack of energy, fatigue, loss of interest, decreased appetite and poor sleep. Understandably, when having these types of thoughts, emotional and physical responses - people with depression often start to withdraw from things that used to be important or enjoyable to them.
One-to-one cognitive behavioural therapy
Cognitive behavioural therapy - often referred to as CBT - is a very well researched talking therapy, with a strong evidence base for helping people to learn to manage and improve symptoms of depression and anxiety.
CBT works on the belief that the way we think influences how we feel - emotionally and physically - and we behave in response to these thoughts and feelings. These behaviours can then reinforce how we think about things, and prevent us from being able to test out whether our thoughts are accurate. Instead, we treat our thoughts as factual. This then means we continue to feel the same emotions.
Group support
We offer an online workshop called ‘Coping with the challenges of caregiving’ where we provide skills and techniques to help manage anxiety, low mood, and improve self-care.