Mental Health: Symptoms, Conditions, Treatment and Support

Mental health is about how you think, feel and deal with everyday life. It can affect your sleep, work, relationships and how you handle difficult situations. Your mental health can change depending on what is happening in your life. Work stress, family problems, money worries, health issues or losing someone close to you can all affect how you feel.

Feeling worried, sad or stressed sometimes is normal. But if these feelings stay for a long time or start making everyday life difficult, it may help to understand what is going on.

You don't need to know what to call it yet. Start with what you have been feeling.

What Have You Been Struggling With? 

I feel worried or anxious 

Anxiety can feel like constant worry, fear, nervousness or a sense that something might go wrong. For some people, it happens only in certain situations; for others, it can be there most days. 

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• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): When you find yourself worrying about many things, such as work, health, family or money, and the worry feels difficult to control.

More specific anxiety concerns

• Panic Attacks: Sudden episodes of intense fear that may come with a racing heart, sweating, shaking, dizziness or trouble breathing.
• Social Anxiety Disorder: When social situations, meeting people or the fear of being judged make you very anxious or lead you to avoid them.
• Health Anxiety: When worries about having or developing an illness continue even after reassurance or medical checks.
• Phobias: An intense fear of a particular thing or situation, such as flying, heights, animals, injections or enclosed spaces.
• Agoraphobia: When you avoid certain places or situations because you worry that escaping or getting help may be difficult.

I've been feeling low or my mood has changed

Changes in mood can look different for everyone. You may feel low, lose interest in things you usually enjoy, notice unusually high or irritable moods, or find that your mood changes around certain stages of life.

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• Depression: When feeling low, empty or uninterested in things continues and starts affecting your everyday life.

More specific mood concerns

• Bipolar Disorder: When periods of depression happen along with episodes of unusually high, energetic or irritable mood.
• PMDD: Severe mood and emotional changes that repeatedly happen in the days before your period and improve after it starts.
• Pregnancy and Post-Delivery Mental Health: Mental health changes such as persistent sadness, anxiety or feeling overwhelmed during pregnancy or after having a baby.

Stress or sleep is becoming difficult to manage

Stress and poor sleep often affect each other. You may feel tired all the time, struggle to switch off, lose patience easily or find it harder to manage work and everyday responsibilities.

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• Coping With Stress and Burnout: When ongoing pressure leaves you feeling mentally and physically exhausted and you are finding it harder to cope.
• Insomnia and Sleep Disorders: When you regularly struggle to fall asleep, stay asleep or get restful sleep, and it starts affecting your day.

More specific concerns and ways to cope

• Sleep Hygiene: Simple changes to your daily and bedtime routine that may help you sleep better.
• Mindfulness: Ways to bring your attention back to the present when your mind feels busy, stressed or overwhelmed.
• Exercise and Mental Health: How regular movement can support your mood, sleep and overall mental well-being.
• Anger Management: For when anger feels difficult to control or starts affecting your relationships, work or daily life.
• Assertiveness and Boundaries: How to express what you need, say no when needed and set healthier limits with other people.

I'm having thoughts or experiences that are difficult to understand

Sometimes thoughts, urges, perceptions or experiences can become distressing, confusing or difficult to manage. Understanding what is happening can help you find the right kind of support.

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• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): When unwanted thoughts keep coming back and you feel driven to repeat certain actions or routines to reduce the anxiety they cause.
• Psychosis and Schizophrenia: When the way you experience or understand reality changes, which may include hallucinations, unusual beliefs or confused thinking.

More specific experiences

• Hearing Voices: For understanding why someone may hear voices that other people do not hear, what can cause it and when to seek help.
• Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID): A condition involving significant changes in identity and gaps in memory, often alongside other dissociative experiences.

My emotions or relationships feel difficult to manage

Strong emotions can sometimes feel difficult to control and may affect how you see yourself, respond to situations or manage relationships with other people.

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• Personality Disorders: Learn about patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving that can affect relationships, emotions and everyday life.

More specific concerns

• Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD): When emotions can feel very intense and you may struggle with relationships, your sense of self or fears of being abandoned.

I'm dealing with a difficult experience, loss or major life change

Some experiences can stay with you long after they happen. Trauma, losing someone close to you or the end of an important relationship can affect your mood, sleep, relationships and ability to cope with everyday life.

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• PTSD and Trauma: When a frightening or deeply distressing experience continues to affect you through unwanted memories, nightmares, avoidance, or feeling constantly on guard.
• Grief and Bereavement: Support for understanding and coping with grief after losing someone important to you.

More specific concerns

• How to Deal With a Break-Up: Practical ways to cope with the emotional impact of a relationship ending and gradually adjust to the change.

I'm worried about alcohol, smoking or habits that feel difficult to control

Sometimes alcohol, tobacco, substances or certain behaviours can become difficult to cut down or stop, even when they are causing problems in your health, relationships or everyday life.

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• Alcohol and Substances: Understand when substance use may be becoming a problem, how dependence can develop and what kinds of help are available.
• Porn Addiction and CSBD: Understand when sexual urges or behaviours become difficult to control and start causing distress or problems in everyday life.

More specific concerns

• Alcohol Use Disorder: When drinking becomes difficult to control or continues despite causing problems in your health or daily life.
• Quit Smoking and Nicotine: Information on nicotine dependence, cravings, withdrawal and ways to quit.
• Cannabis Dependence: When cannabis becomes difficult to cut down or stop, or starts affecting your health and everyday life.

I'm struggling with focus, attention or memory

Problems with concentration, organisation or memory can affect work, relationships and everyday tasks. The reasons can be different, so understanding the pattern of changes can help you know where to start.

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• ADHD in Adults: When ongoing difficulties with attention, organisation, restlessness or impulsivity affect different areas of your life.
• Dementia: Information about changes in memory, thinking and everyday abilities that go beyond the changes usually expected with ageing.

I want to understand treatment or get professional help

You may know that you need some support but still be unsure whom to see, what therapy involves or what to expect from mental health medicines.

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• What to Expect in Psychotherapy: Understand what happens in therapy, what the first session may be like and what you can expect as therapy continues.
• Understanding Psychiatric Medications: An introduction to medicines used for mental health conditions, including what they can help with and what to discuss with your doctor.

Find more specific information

• Psychiatrist vs Psychologist vs Therapist: Understand the difference between these professionals and who may be able to help with different needs.
• Antidepressants
• Antipsychotics
• Mood Stabilisers
• Anti-Anxiety Medications
• Sleeping Pills
• ADHD Medications
• Dementia Medications
• Addiction Medications
• Sexual Side Effects of Psychiatric Medicines

I'm worried about someone else or need urgent help

Sometimes you may be looking for information for someone you care about rather than yourself. And if you or someone else may be in immediate danger, getting urgent help is more important than figuring out the exact mental health condition.

• Supporting a Loved One: Learn how to listen, offer practical support, encourage professional help and respond when someone you care about is struggling.
• Crisis Support and Helplines: Find crisis support, emergency options and mental health helplines when you or someone else needs immediate help. You can also contact Tele-MANAS, the Government of India’s mental health support service, on 14416 or 1-800-89-14416.

I'm struggling with food, eating or my relationship with my body

Problems with eating can look very different from person to person. You may be eating much less, having episodes where you feel unable to stop eating, worrying a lot about your weight or body, or using food in ways that are starting to affect your health and everyday life.

• Eating Disorders: Understand different types of eating disorders, common signs to look for and when it may be time to seek professional help.

Finding the Right Mental Health Support

You do not need to know the exact name of what you are experiencing before asking for help. Start with the concern that feels closest to what you are going through and learn more from there.

If your symptoms continue, affect your everyday life, or become difficult to manage, consider speaking with a qualified mental health professional. The right support may include therapy, medication, practical changes or a combination of these.