Psychological well-being

Most people at some stage have experienced uncomfortable levels of anxiety or felt a little blue. Around 20% of people with long-term conditions are diagnosed with clinical depression – that’s around two to three times higher than the rest of the population. [1]

There are many areas of our lifestyles that can be leveraged to help alleviate stress, anxiety and depressive states such as:

- Regular exercise (daily if possible)

- Increased general levels of activity (Reduced sedentary time)

- Healthy/helpful sleep routines (to be covered in more detail in future blog...)

- Reduced alcohol consumption

- Reduced junk food consumption

- Weight loss

- Well managed stresses

However - sometimes more support is welcome and there is help and support services available.

It’s important when feeling this way to talk to someone, speak about how you’re feeling and share your thoughts. If you believe there is no one close to you that you could share these thoughts with there are many Psychological Awareness Services available across the country. An example of a local service in Cambridge is Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust:

https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/self-refer-here

T 0300 300 0055 Phone lines are operational: 9am-4pm, Monday to Friday (closed Bank Holidays)

E selfreferiapt@cpft.nhs.uk

This is a self referral service and they offer support in many shapes and forms - listed below

(source: https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/self-refer-here).

A good place to start is by speaking with your GP or other healthcare professionals if you attend any rehabilitation service.

*Please note, CPFT Psychological Wellbeing Service is not a crisis or emergency service and cannot provide an urgent response. If you are in a mental health crisis, contact our First Response Service on 111 and select option 2.

In addition - The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is a great resource for those in cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention. Their site has fantastic information about psychological well-being, visit them via the link below if interested to find out more on this topic and more…

https://www.bhf.org.uk/for-professionals/healthcare-professionals/blog/2019/under-strain-why-psychological-support-matters-for-heart-health

Ref:

1. NICE (2009) Depression in adults with a chronic physical health problem – the NICE guideline on treatment and management