You may have experienced a traumatic event, or perhaps witnessed a loved one go through something traumatic and in following weeks experience signs of acute stress such as feeling numb, sleeplessness or difficulty thinking about or remembering what has happened. This is sometimes termed Post Traumatic Stress.

Where these symptoms continue past a month a doctor may diagnose you with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. PTSD can be mild, moderate or severe. In the past it was often associated with war veterans but many events can trigger it – sexual trauma, road accidents, natural disasters or childbirth to name a few.

PTS is often associated with symptoms such as hypervigilance, anxiety, anger, numbness, sleeplessness and blaming yourself in some way for what has happened. You will also often try to avoid triggers or reminders of the trauma. These may be any number of things associated with your 5 senses. You may feel as though you are re-living the event, or experience nightmares and flashbacks.

Many people misunderstand Post Traumatic Stress. It’s not something you can just ‘forget’ ‘move on from’ or ‘get over’ just like that. It can deeply affect your body and your mind. You may feel the world is not a safe place anymore and that it is difficult to trust others. Talking with a trained professional can help, and this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to talk about what happened or re-live it. You may wish to talk about how it impacts your relationships, your view of yourself or your body or learn about grounding techniques to help with flashbacks for instance. Please don’t hesitate to contact Rainbow for more information or support as recovery is most definitely possible!

Find out more about Trauma by visiting: MIND Charity’s website >

Eating problems describes a range of eating difficulties and disorders which may affect an individual’s relationship with food and with their body. They can affect men and women and those of different ages and different weights.

Some commonly known eating disorders include anorexia nervousa and bulimia, but an eating problem can affect many more individuals more commonly than these medically diagnosed disorders. Eating problems may affect your relationship with others – you may wish to hide your eating habits and thoughts about food with them, you may feel judged or misunderstood by others. You may find a lot of your time is dominated by thoughts about food and controlling your diet.

Eating problems can often go hand in hand with other issues such as self-esteem, self-harm, depression, anxiety or thoughts about suicide. What is happening in your mind can feel quite complicated and hard to explain to others. Many have found that talking to a counsellor can really help with these issues. You may have feelings and thoughts you wish to express and sometimes talking to someone outside your usual sphere can really help.

Again, check out Mind’s information pages regarding eating problems for more advice and support. Please contact Rainbow Counselling to access further support.

Watch MIND’s useful Youtube Video:  Eating Disorders | Talking about mental health

Returning to our series on Mental Health Awareness in this blog we take a look at Anxiety.

Anxiety can go hand in hand with Depression for many sufferers, although this is not always the case. Anxiety describes the feeling of being tense, worried or nervous and can be a result of stressful life events or a fear that something bad is going to happen. Panic attacks can sometimes affect those who suffer from anxiety.

Some aspects of anxiety are normal and are felt by everyone. What is often termed the ‘fight, flight or freeze’ response is the body’s way of responding to a perceived threat and causes certain physical effects such as increased heart rate. With anxiety sometimes this can spiral a bit further out of control and can be felt frequently, without the body having chance to relax once the threat has passed.

Again, please check out Mind’s info about anxiety, which provides more detail on this topic and also some helpful links to support during the Coronavirus pandemic, which has prompted increased anxiety for many. Once again, don’t forget here at Rainbow we can help! Please contact us to access further support.

Watch MIND Youtube Video:  Anxiety | Talking about mental health – Episode 2

Called ‘the black dog’ by well-known sufferer Winston Churchill depression plagues all sectors of society for many different reasons.

Most of us have either suffered from depression or are likely to know a friend or family member who has, making it a very common concern.

Depression is a feeling of low mood that lasts for a long time and impacts you daily. Mildly you can lead a normal life, although things may feel harder to do and seem less worthwhile. Severe depression may lead to feelings of suicide. We all have times when we feel low, but when these feelings persist it may be time to try and access support. A first point of call would be your GP who can assess your mood and explore with you options for treatment, such as counselling or medication or a combination of both.

This is a brief overview of depression – please check out Mind’s website article for more detailed information, including various types of depression such as Postnatal Depression or Seasonal Affective Disorder. And please don’t forget at Rainbow we are here to help! Depression is an issue we work with a lot, so don’t hesitate to get in touch if you are suffering or know someone who is.

Read more about Depression at Mind’s website >

Mental health. It’s a phrase that is used increasingly. But some may ask – what exactly is it?

A helpful article by Mind helps to explain mental health problems in general and over the coming months our blog articles will take a look at some common mental health issues in more detail.

Mental health may be compared to physical health in that we all have it and we all need to look after it. Times of poor mental health may affect the way we think, feel and act. Sometimes we may feel completely unable to cope, this may be much worse than a period of physical illness for example.

A mental health problem can be upsetting, particularly if you fear it means it is a sign of weakness or that you feel out of control. Mental health issues are often portrayed negatively in the media, which doesn’t help considering how common they actually are. Awareness raising, such as Mental Health Awareness week, has fortunately done a lot to increase general awareness of mental health concerns. We would also like to address this lack of awareness – watch out for our blog series on this topic, our next blog explains a little more about one of the most common mental health issues – Depression.

Remember support is out there! You are not alone. For more info please don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our counsellors today.

Find out more from the following article at Mind, the mental health charity >