Getting Help for Mental Health Issues
Quick Answer
If you’re struggling with your mental health, the Mental Health Hotline can listen, talk through what you’re experiencing and connect you with support and local resources. Call 866-903-3787 anytime. If you’re in immediate danger or having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988.
Mental health struggles are widespread. In the United States alone, one in five adults lives with a mental illness. When left untreated, these issues can negatively affect a person’s health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people who struggle with their mental health may also experience other problems such as increased substance use, insomnia, nightmares and unhealthy changes in eating habits. They may also experience physical symptoms such as headaches, stomachaches and other body pains. The good news is that support is available.
What Are the Signs That Someone Is Struggling With Their Mental Health?
It often feels difficult to recognize the signs of mental distress in other people, and the problem is only harder when we are dealing with our own struggles. When it comes to our mental health, we tend to write off the signs we notice or assume they will go away.
This can be dangerous. If you neglect your own mental health, your symptoms may worsen. On the other hand, if you understand the signs of mental health struggles, you may be able to get support sooner. Indications that you may be having trouble with your mental health include:
- Changes in eating habits
- Withdrawing from the people you love
- Low energy
- Feelings of helplessness
- Excessive substance use
Most importantly, if you are having thoughts about what it would be like if you were gone, or are considering hurting yourself in any way, that is a sign to seek immediate help. You are not alone and should not have to face the most significant struggles in your life without support. There is a better way.
What Does a Serious Mental Health Struggle Look Like?
Even when you know you’re struggling, it can be hard to acknowledge the depth of what you’re experiencing. You may fear that asking for help will make you seem overly dramatic. But when you call the Mental Health Hotline, you are not being judged — the goal is to help you. Some people feel better about reaching out when they understand what a mental health crisis looks like.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), a mental health crisis occurs when someone’s condition begins to significantly affect their life or health. This can include times when a person’s struggles make them a danger to themselves or others, but it is not limited to those times. A crisis is also occurring when a mental illness causes complete withdrawal, preventing the person from being able to take care of themselves.
⚠ If you need help right now
If you or someone you love may be a danger to themselves or others, call 911, or call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. For ongoing support and help finding resources, the Mental Health Hotline is available at 866-903-3787.
Anxiety
Everyone experiences some level of anxiety in their life. When anxiety starts to take over your life, however, it becomes an issue. It can cause physical symptoms, such as panic attacks that culminate in hyperventilation or heart palpitations, and psychological symptoms, such as a debilitating sense of fear or dread and difficulty concentrating on anything but your worries. Thankfully, anxiety can be treated, so you don’t have to struggle alone.
Panic Attacks
The Mental Health Hotline can also help if you’re worried about an active panic attack. A person may be having a panic attack if they are experiencing these issues:
- An intensified heartbeat
- Hyperventilation
- Shortness of breath
- Trembling or shaking
- Nausea
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
Panic attacks are often linked to other conditions, such as anxiety, depression, substance use disorders or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). If you’re worried you are having a panic attack, the Mental Health Hotline can help. Your call is free and completely anonymous, and you can talk through what you’re experiencing without any judgment.
Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder is characterized by moods that shift from periods of extreme elation to periods of unbearable sadness. Those elevated moments can lead someone to feel they have nothing to worry about, prompting reckless decisions. The deeply depressive episodes pose serious risks as well, leading to a loss of joy and, at times, thoughts of ending one’s life.
If you feel you may be living with bipolar disorder, calling the Mental Health Hotline is a good first step. We can listen, offer guidance and help you find treatment options and a therapist.
Depression
Depression is another condition that affects a wide range of people. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), an estimated 21 million adults in the United States had at least one depressive episode in 2020. Only slightly more than half of them sought help.
Some symptoms of depression include:
- Trouble focusing or remembering specific details
- Feeling guilty, worthless or helpless
- Insomnia
- Persistent sad and empty feelings
Depression and anxiety often go hand in hand, leaving people struggling with both fear and deep sadness. A good rule of thumb is that anxiety often leads to worries about the future, while depression often causes deep focus on events of the past.
Depression also has many different categories:
- Some people experience consistent depression that continues for years at a time, known as dysthymia.
- Others struggle with depression during the colder, darker months — seasonal depression.
- People with bipolar disorder also experience depression during episodes of low energy.
- Depression can lead to extreme feelings of worthlessness.
Calling can be the first step toward getting help. Even if you aren’t feeling suicidal, if you suspect you have depression, it’s important to seek help before things escalate. When you call the Mental Health Hotline, you can talk through your depression and be pointed toward resources that can help.
The Mental Health Hotline is available for those who are worried about their depression but are not considering hurting themselves. If you need support through thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
PTSD occurs after someone experiences one or more highly traumatic events. It is common in soldiers during and after war, but it can be caused by many kinds of trauma. The symptoms of PTSD fall into four categories:
- Intrusive memories. Constantly recalling traumatic events through flashbacks, nightmares or triggers that cause physical symptoms.
- Avoidance. Avoiding anything related to the traumatic event, including locations, activities and people that serve as reminders.
- Changes in thoughts and mood. Thinking negatively about oneself, feeling anxiety and hopelessness about the future, and experiencing emotional numbness.
- Changes in reactions. Reacting defensively to stimuli — becoming easily frightened, on guard, irritable or angry, with possible outbursts, guilt or shame.
The Mental Health Hotline can help in a number of ways. We can talk with you about PTSD and how it can be treated, and point you toward mental health professionals in your area who may be right for you, including how to find ones that accept your insurance. If your PTSD is contributing to addiction, we can help connect you with outpatient care or treatment options as well.
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a serious condition that calls for professional help. People living with schizophrenia should not try to manage it alone. With help, they can manage their symptoms and lead happy, productive lives. Symptoms of schizophrenia include:
- Hallucinations: sensing something that isn’t there (hearing voices, seeing people who aren’t present).
- Delusions: irrational beliefs that are untrue (believing people are out to get them, or feelings of grandeur).
- Thought disorder: unusual or illogical ways of thinking (jumping erratically between thoughts, stopping mid-thought).
- Movement disorder: abnormal body movements, sometimes repeated.
People with untreated schizophrenia may be at risk of hurting themselves. And while most people with schizophrenia are not dangerous, untreated schizophrenia can carry some risk to others.
At the Mental Health Hotline, we can talk with you about schizophrenia. Once considered untreatable, schizophrenia can now be managed with the right care, and we can help connect you with treatment options so you don’t have to go through it alone.
If a Loved One Is Struggling
The Mental Health Hotline is available not only for those who are struggling themselves, but also for those who know or fear that someone they love is struggling. We can help you recognize when someone may be in a mental health crisis, how to ask whether they need help or encourage them to seek it, and how to be there for them. Most mental health struggles happen in silence, but they don’t have to. You can help your loved one, and we can help you do it. Neither of you needs to go through it alone.
Where We Can Point You
The Mental Health Hotline can link you to helpful support groups and trusted external resources. Whatever you’re facing, the goal is to help you find support in whatever way works best — even if that means pointing you somewhere else.
You Don't Have to Face This Alone
Living with a mental health condition can feel overwhelming, but support and real guidance are available. Whether you’re struggling yourself or worried about someone you love, the Mental Health Hotline can listen and help connect you with the right resources.
Reaching out can be the first step toward feeling more stable. Call the Mental Health Hotline anytime.