Charities are calling for a nationwide campaign to help promote mental health after a survey suggested more people are growing anxious. But what sort of advice might be offered?
Blame a long winter, blame media fixations with bad news, blame the credit crunch and the thought of looming global depression – Britons are more fearful than they were 10 years ago, the Mental Health Foundation says. And more people are suffering from anxiety, which can lead to depression.
The foundation wants a "mental health promotion campaign that shows individuals how to look after their own mental health".
But what might that involve? We asked mental health professionals for some simple suggestions.
1. Lightboxes
The effect of long winters, some say, can be shortened with the use of lightboxes, which deliver a dose of bright light similar to daylight to alleviate seasonal depression.
“Certainly, there’s enough people in the two hemispheres who say ‘thank God it’s summer, I feel so much better’, and that may be because it’s light, or to do with heat,” says Phillip Hodson, a fellow of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy. “A lot of people swear by lightboxes.”
April 16, 2009
