Stress, depression and anxiety

Find out what stress, anxiety and depression are and access self-help resources and other sources of support.

Stress

What is stress?

Stress is a normal response to a situation or event that causes you to feel threatened or overwhelmed. Stress can affect how you feel, how you think, how you behave and how your body works. Stress is often a trigger of anxiety and subsequent depression.

Find out about the various symptoms and causes of stress on the NHS website.

Managing stress 

Stress is a normal part of life. Preventing stress isn’t easy, but there are many things you can do to help manage and treat it. Try our Wellbeing PAL workshops. The NHS provides information about managing stress and stress treatments. There is also information about using exercise to relieve stress.

Take a simple stress test to see how stressed you really are, and learn some relaxation techniques to help relieve the symptoms of stress.

Depression

What is depression? 

Depression is when you feel very low and sad persistently for weeks at a time, not just a few days. You can lose interest in things that you usually love, feeling hopeless, tearful, constantly tired, with loss of appetite and sex drive, and trouble sleeping.

Depression is a real illness with real symptoms, which is why it is really important to recognise the signs and symptoms of depression in yourself and those around you so you can get help quickly. Learn about signs and symptoms on the NHS website.

Ways of coping with depression

If you have symptoms of depression, there is a lot that can be done to help combat them. For example, the following can all help:

• A healthy diet
• Regular exercise
• Friends and family
• Time for yourself

Mind, the charity for mental health, also offer more information about ways of coping with depression, the different forms the illness can take and the treatments available.

It's also beneficial to hear about others' experiences of depression, as it's highly likely someone else has gone through a similar experience to you. It's an opportunity to find out how they coped with depression and what they found helpful or unhelpful. You can find these stories and other information about getting further help and support from the Students Against Depression website.

Anxiety

Anxiety is an unpleasant feeling of unease or apprehension. Most people experience anxiety from time to time, but often these feelings can persist and can prevent people from doing the things they want to do, making their lives miserable.

Usually, the anxiety and the feeling of being under pressure can be managed because you know that the situation is only temporary and can identify what is causing those feelings. For example, if you have a deadline coming up, you know that once the deadline is over the feelings will pass.

Sometimes, however, these feelings will be experienced a lot without knowing what is causing them, or when they might end. This is much harder to cope with, and will usually require some help from a support service. Remember, it is always better to seek help than to keep quiet and bottle things up.

Anxiety has many different psychological and physical symptoms. You can find more information about anxiety from the NHS website, which provides information on the symptoms of anxiety, likely causes and the treatment available.