Manchester-based support group Anxiety UK has introduced a mentor scheme to help people living with anxiety disorder.

Described as an intense panic or tight-chested feeling, anxiety disorder can prevent people from leaving the house for years. Sufferers experience a wide range of symptoms including insomnia, extreme weight loss and gain, shaking and obsessive thoughts.

In the last four years, the number of NHS outpatients receiving treatment for anxiety disorder has quadrupled. An estimated 2.2 million people across the country are sufferers, most of whom are thought to be women (for every 60 people who call Anxiety UK for help, 40 are female).

Treatment for anxiety disorder on the NHS consists of six therapy sessions and a prescription for antidepressants. According to Anxiety UK, this is not sufficient. Sufferers need more help with life after treatment or they will simply revert back to their old habits and thoughts.

In an attempt to address this problem, Anxiety UK has organised a scheme in which sufferers are assigned a trained mentor.

One sufferer, 40-year-old Bev Perry, has struggled with her social anxiety disorder for most of her life. Although married with two children, Bev has no close friends and spent the last 16 years indoors with nothing but the television for company.

She describes how she was overweight as a child, afraid of being judged and always intensely nervous of social situations. As she grew older the paranoia and feelings of vulnerability grew until she resigned herself to staying indoors away from other people. Her husband Ian has supported her through everything, including caring for both of their children, as Bev had always been too afraid to take them outdoors.

Anxiety UK matched Bev with a mentor they believed would be best suited to help her condition. They found Chloe Lycett, a 23-year-old psychology graduate studying for her MA at Manchester.

Bev and Chloe now meet once a week to talk about everything. Due to the OCD that took up much of Chloe’s childhood, she is in a good position to sympathise with Bev. She said: ‘Really luckily, we just clicked. There was an instant rapport and we both disclosed a lot. It’s like a confidential, safe, non-judgmental space for both of us.’

Now, after a month of mentoring, Bev has travelled on the bus for the first time in 17 years and has since started a self-defence class as suggested by Chloe.

Bev said: ‘I don’t think my anxieties will ever go away, but the more things I do, the easier it gets. My aim now is to get a job. My family have always loved me – they have to, we’re family! But it makes such a difference to know there’s someone else who accepts me. It’s so much easier to go out into the world when you know there’s someone in it who thinks you’re OK.’

We list trained and qualified counsellors from all over the UK on this directory. If you would like to find out more about how counselling can help with anxiety disorder, please visit our Anxiety page. 

View and comment on the original Telegraph article. 

BBC School drama Waterloo Road has worked with mental health charity Mind to develop a storyline surrounding a character diagnosed with schizophrenia.

As part of Mind’s Time to Change campaign with Rethink Mental Illness, the organisation is working with a variety of TV shows to ensure that the storylines are realistically portrayed on screen and that the characters experiencing mental health problems are presented both sensitively and accurately.

Mind believes that featuring characters with mental health problems in TV programs can have an extremely positive impact. Wide scale exposure could help to reduce mental health stigma whilst at the same time providing individuals with the information they need to recognise symptoms of mental health conditions before seeking help.

Soaps and TV dramas have huge audiences and are a fantastic way of reaching individuals who wouldn’t find out about mental health problems and their symptoms in any other way. However, whilst television is certainly an important medium of communication when it comes to spreading awareness, stereotyping characters and portraying them in a one-dimensional unrealistic fashion could have a negative impact – which is why Mind were invited to comment on the script before it was approved.

Mind have put the Waterloo Road researchers and writers in touch with real life volunteers in order to provide a real emotional response to the storyline. This way, viewers are actually seeing characters who are drawing on real life personal experiences of an individual who once found themselves in a similar situation.

For information about schizophrenia please visit our fact-sheet.

View and comment on the original Mind article. 

After watching the shocking collapse of 23-year-old Fabrice Muamba at White Hart Lane on Saturday, Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has revealed that Spurs players have been offered counselling.

Bolton Wanderers player Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest in Wanderer’s FA Cup quarter-final against Tottenham Hotspur last Saturday. He is currently still in intensive care in Bethnal Green though it recently emerged that he is now able to breathe independently and is able to recognise family members.

Tottenham boss Redknapp described how he watched in horror after seeing Muamba collapse, and has admitted that his squad have been profoundly affected by the evening’s events.

The 65-year-old has said he is extremely pleased to hear of Muamba’s progress after having feared the worst on Saturday. He went onto say that some of the Tottenham players were left in tears on the pitch after witnessing the horrifying collapse first hand, and has revealed that players had been offered counselling.

“We had someone come in today to run the tests,” He said. 
”We have also had people in to talk to the lads as well. That was important.

“They have had plenty of support and they have come in and got on with it, but the main talking point was what was happening on the news. They were all just hoping he’d improve.”

Spurs returned to the pitch yesterday evening for the first time since the incident on Saturday, drawing 1-1 with Stoke.

View and comment on the original Mirror article.

There are currently around six million unpaid carers in the UK who dedicate every single day of their lives to looking after their ill, vulnerable, or disabled loved-ones.

Carers face a huge and life-changing responsibility to support their dependent relative or friend, and they often face this challenge entirely alone. Day-to-day life for a carer can at times be incredibly challenging, isolating and upsetting. Carers are often so absorbed with caring for another, that they neglect to care properly for themselves.

CarewellUK.org is a pilot website created by care provider Bupa, charity Carers UK and social enterprise MEND. Although currently in its infancy, the site aims to eventually become an important hub of communication and news for carers across the country.

By bringing carers together, it is hoped that a support network can be built up to help combat some of the challenges carers face on a daily basis.

The site aims to cover four key support areas:

• identifying and coping with stress
• healthy eating
• keeping active
• sleeping well.

Here carers can exchange their experiences and problems and find tips and advice to help combat the stress of being entirely responsible for someone else. By sharing their thoughts online, carers can work towards improving their mental and physical wellbeing, which can sometimes suffer under the immense stress and strain of wholly supporting another.

Carewell aims to be a social hub and support network for those looking to make positive changes to their lifestyles, which should in turn enable them to provide better care.

Take a look at the new site at Carewell UK for a wealth of information, advice and support. The website is currently at an early stage of development and needs user input to really grow, so if you are a carer and have an experience you would like to share – please do get involved now.

For further information about carers and counselling, please visit our own Carers Support page. Alternatively, you can find a counsellor using our search tool. 

HIV-positive children attending schools across Tanzania must now wear a red ribbon to distinguish them from healthy children.

The ribbons, requested by worried parents, are meant as a way of ensuring ill pupils will not have to partake in any school-time activity that might affect their health. This includes tiring duties such as fetching and transporting water and sweeping the compound.

However, campaigners in the area argue that identifying HIV-positive children firstly alienates them from their fellow pupils, and secondly breaks the law, which is an offence punishable by up to three years in prison.

The law, passed in 2008, states that it is illegal to discriminate against, or identify, a person with HIV or Aids.

Around 5% of the Tanzanian population are thought to be HIV positive – that’s some 1.4 million people. This number is standard for most East African countries.

Msafiri Thomas, leader of an HIV/Aids community awareness scheme in the area, said: “Students wearing these ribbons are sometimes shunned by other pupils who don’t want to share or be near them because they fear they will be infected. There must be another way to help these children.”

However, the head of a Primary school in the northwest district of Kibaha argued that the ribbons were introduced for the benefit of HIV positive children only, and were unlikely to put them at risk of judgement from other pupils because disease and illness were, sadly, already common-place across most schools.

HIV and Aids also affects many people living in the UK. Unfortunately there is still stigma surrounding both conditions and dealing with it can be very difficult.

Counselling can provide support for people suffering with the conditions, and also for their friends and family.

To find out more, please visit our page on HIV and Aids.

Read and comment on the original Daily Telegraph article. 

Online support network Counselling Directory has revealed that 82% of visitors to the site admitted to staying online for longer than intended, with almost half also admitting to feeling depressed, moody or irritable if they find themselves in a situation where they are unable to access the web. With Internet use becoming increasingly difficult to avoid during day-to-day life, Counselling Directory investigate how a hobby can turn into something more serious, and how cognitive behavioural therapy and psychotherapy approaches can be used in the treatment of Internet addiction.

The Internet has now penetrated virtually every corner of the developed world in a big way, making living without it practically unavoidable. Logging on is now a part of everyday life for billions of individuals worldwide – if not for leisure then for business.

According to Internet World Stats, globally there was a 528%* increase in Internet usage between 2000 and 2011, and whilst this global phenomenon has made it easier to communicate and gain access to information, the benefits also correlate with some rather sinister negatives.

Internet addiction is a relatively new term which is used to describe excessive computer use which begins to interfere with daily life. Whilst the condition currently isn’t officially recognised as a medical condition, there is an increasing body of evidence to suggest that it should be.

Gambling, using social media sites, role playing games, chat room use and watching pornography online are just a few activities which could become a problem if they are not moderated.

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According to an annual report compiled by the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS), the number of tenants contacting them for advice about debt problems in 2011 saw a worrying increase.

Whilst individuals up and down the country are struggling to get a foot onto the property ladder or are battling to keep up with mortgage repayments – it seems that renters have also found themselves in troubled waters.

CCCS have said that renters now account for 55% of their clients, a rise of 4% since 2009. Individuals who are living in rented accommodation are often overlooked when it comes to analysing the impact of the economic downturn, but actually the group has been one of the hardest hit – with consumer advice services reporting record numbers of tenants contacting them for help.

The CCCS report found that during 2011, the average rent paid by the tenants it helped increased by 2.4% whilst the average disposable income of those same tenants (after meeting living expenses), fell by 40%.

Additional findings included a rise of 30% in the number of renters in arrears during the past three years. The breakdown showed that private tenants found themselves in the worst position – with an average of £924 worth of unpaid rent, compared to the average of £705 of unpaid rent owed to housing associations and £622 for local authority renters.

Director of external affairs at CCCS, Delroy Corinaldi said: “A very large number of people are struggling to keep up with their rent payments – and with rents near record highs, the problem is getting worse, not better. Household finances are being squeezed as it is – and for many people another rent hike will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

If you are struggling to manage your finances, a counsellor specialising in debt management could provide you with the help and support needed to regain control. To find out more about debt management counselling please visit our fact-sheet. Alternatively, visit our homepage and use the search tool to locate a qualified professional in your local area.

View and comment on the original Guardian article.

Domestic abuse is a serious problem throughout the UK. In North Yorkshire alone a massive 9,284 domestic abuse cases were reported in 2010.

The York and North Yorkshire Domestic Abuse estimated that this number represents only 30% of incidents that actually occur.

Relate is a new service that offers free one-to-one counselling for 40 young people every year. It will operate in three separate locations across Yorkshire, including York, Harrogate and Selby, starting from October.

Penny Smith, who works with the Independent Domestic Abuse Services (IDAS) in York explained how witnessing abusive behaviour can have serious effects on children: “We can be looking at jealous, controlling behaviour and lots of insecurity in relationships. Getting into risky relationships, perhaps getting into relationships with people much older than themselves.”

She went on to list drugs, alcohol and anti-social behaviour as other possible effects of having violent parents.

To find out how counselling can help family and relationship issues and help children overcome anti-social behaviour, please have a browse of our Types of Distress pages.

View and comment on the original BBC news article. 

A mental health charity is urging the Department of Health to launch a nationwide campaign raising awareness of male suicide in the UK, the biggest killer of men under the age of 35.

Danni Mather, 23, spoke to BBC reporter Sima Kotecha about his long-term struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts:

“It’s just complete emptiness. You can’t smile. You can be told the greatest joke in the world, the greatest news in the world, and you’ll just feel like its nothing. You just exist,” Mr Mather explained.

The young man, who is a talented musician, was able to overcome his suicidal feelings by finding professional help. He attributed his survival to having the opportunity to talk about his feelings.

Campaign Against Living Miserably (Calm), a suicide prevention charity focusing predominantly on helping men, has appealed directly to the government to employ an effective strategy for lowering suicide rates, especially in an increasingly dark and difficult climate.

More families are aware of the dangers of salt than they are of male depression and, according to Jane Powell, director of Calm, this needs to change if we are to reduce suicide rates in Britain.

Comedian and novelist David Baddiel has opened up about his own struggle with depression, describing it as ‘not wanting to move’.

Despite growing awareness, mental illness is still a murky area in British society. People suffering from depression are often hugely misunderstood and as a result, the help simply doesn’t come.

To learn more about depression and other mental health problems, please take a browse through our Types of Distress pages.

Sometimes having somebody to talk to can make all the difference.

View and comment on the original BBC News article. 

New laws are to be introduced in a bid to protect victims of stalking. 

Prime Minister David Cameron has announced that stalking is to officially become a criminal offence.

The Prime Minister, who met with a number of stalking victims yesterday at No 10 said: “Stalking is an abhorrent crime. It makes life a living hell for the victims – breaking up relationships, forcing the victims to move house, making them feel they are being watched 24 hours of the day. That is why we are explicitly criminalising stalking, to make sure that justice is done, protect the victims and show beyond doubt that stalking is a crime.”

The move to officially make stalking a more serious crime came after a parliamentary enquiry called for it to be made an offence as soon as possible in a bid to prevent harassment and intimidation from turning into murder.

MPs and peers have said that whilst the new law is a positive step in the right direction, it is not enough to protect victims and a reform of the system is still needed.

According to shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, rapid progress is needed, as is a law which is strong enough, “half-hearted measures won’t be enough,” she said.

The change in how stalking is seen by the criminal justice system was also prompted by a year-long campaign by the charity Protection Against Stalking, and the probation union Napo.

Assistant general secretary at Napo, Harry Fletcher, said: “It is essential that any new legislation ensures that victims are properly protected and perpetrators receive adequate sentences and attend programmes that combat their obsessive behaviour.”

View and comment on the original London Stock Exchange article.