Understanding mental health

What kind of mental health problems are there?

There are many different mental health problems. You may experience symptoms that are common to two or more diagnoses, or you may experience the symptoms of more than one mental health problem at once. Mental health problems include:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Eating problems
• Bipolar disorder
• Schizophrenia
• Personality disorders

Mental Health problems are not the same as either a learning disability or autistics spectrum conditions, although if you have either of these then you could also experience certain types of mental health problems.

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What causes mental health problems?

Mental health problems can have a wide range of causes. We can often point to things that trigger a period of poor mental health but some people tend to be more deeply affected by these things than others.

Factors that could potentially trigger a period of poor mental health include loneliness, the death of someone close to you, stress, a long-term physical health condition, unemployment, social factors (for example, income, housing) or a combination of any of these.