Feeling overwhelmed?

It is common to feel overwhelmed sometimes in life. If you are feeling overwhelmed, it may be because you are stressed, anxious or burdened by several things that are happening in your life, like if you have recently received bad news or are worried about certain global events. It’s normal to feel overwhelmed from time to time, but if you are feeling overwhelmed regularly, it may begin to affect your physical and mental health.

Getting support for your mental health and to help you cope with feelings of overwhelm may seem daunting, and you may feel like you don’t know who to turn to. At NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Talking Therapies, we are here for you. We can provide you with self-help resources through our mental health hub or you can access existing webinars as you begin your talking therapies journey. Then, by self-referring to our services through our online referral assistant, GP/professional referrals or by calling us on 0333 188 1060, you can access the right therapy for you.

If you are dealing with PTSD after a traumatic event or are looking for support when coping with cancer, we can help you. You may be struggling with your mental health and feeling anxious about the future or lonely because you are no longer doing some of the things you once enjoyed, or you might have a long term condition and are feeling exhausted after treatment and stressed about test results. All of these factors can have an impact on your mental health and leave you feeling overwhelmed.

Either through talking therapies designed to suit your needs or our mindfulness based programmes, we can provide you with the help you need to get better and move forward with your life.

What are the causes of feeling overwhelmed?

There are many reasons why you might be feeling overwhelmed. For some people, understanding why you are feeling overwhelmed might be difficult. These feelings can also present as feeling anxious, stressed, exhausted or low, which can all contribute to poor mental health.

Living with a long term condition can also leave you feeling overwhelmed as you deal with treatment, medication and potentially being unable to socialise or do the things you once enjoyed as a result of your illness. A long term condition can include chronic illnesses and pain, diabetes and cancer.

Some common causes of feeling overwhelmed may include:

• Financial worries
• Relationship changes
• Significant life events
• Illness or injury
• Loss and bereavement
• Stress at work, or having too much to do
• Non-stop lifestyle

You may also feel overwhelmed as a result of not getting enough support, or feeling isolated or alone.

Modern distractions, like always being connected to social media, emails or the digital world can leave you feeling overwhelmed from information overload. Then, whilst dealing with this and balancing daily life with socialising with loved ones, you may begin to feel distracted and overwhelmed with everything going on in your life. It’s at this point when feeling overwhelmed can become difficult to manage and have an impact on your mental health.

What are the symptoms of feeling overwhelmed?

Whether you’ve endured a significant life event, like losing a loved one, starting university or a new job, or if you’ve experienced a build-up of smaller, everyday life stresses, like struggling with work or your finances, feeling overwhelmed can look and feel different for everyone.

Signs and symptoms of feeling overwhelmed can vary from person to person, but there are some common signs that present in many people who are overwhelmed, including:

• Feeling anxious or irritable
• Struggling to concentrate or make decisions
• Sudden mood swings
• Feeling like you’re constantly on edge
• Physical pain, like muscle tension or headaches

Coping with these symptoms of overwhelm can feel difficult. To support your mental health, and to prevent any further mental health conditions, you could consider starting mindfulness exercises, like breathing exercises, or find support organisations within Nottingham and the surrounding areas.

Talking therapies are also an effective way of managing your mental health and dealing with feelings of overwhelm. At NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Talking Therapies, we can support you with our healthy living healthy minds programme or with a range of talking therapy options.

What support is available if you are feeling overwhelmed?

If you are feeling overwhelmed and it’s having an impact on your mental health, getting support is the first step on your journey to better mental health.

There are some self-help methods you can try to help yourself feel better, like breathing exercises, going for walks, listening to calming music or doing something you enjoy, like reading.

You may implement these self-help methods into your daily life but still seek some additional professional support. At NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Talking Therapies, we offer two mindfulness based programmes: mindfulness for depression, which helps treat symptoms of depression and prevents relapse for those who have recovered from depression, and mindfulness for health, which is designed to support people living with a long term condition. Our healthy living healthy minds programme helps people improve their mental wellbeing by improving aspects of their lifestyle, like combining healthy eating with a balanced diet. Alongside these programmes, we offer self-help resources and existing webinars to support your mental health journey.

We also offer a range of talking therapies, which are designed to help with common mental health problems, like stress, anxiety and depression. Anyone aged 18 years or over, living in Nottingham city or the surrounding areas and registered with a local GP can access these mental health services. Our talking therapies can support you with feelings of overwhelm, so you can learn to cope with your emotions and implement coping strategies, like a safety plan.

At NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Talking Therapies, we offer the following talking therapies to support you with feelings of overwhelm and their impact on your mental health:

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): this talking therapy helps people improve their mental health by replacing negative thoughts with more positive ones.
• Counselling for Depression: this talking therapy involves working with a therapist who can help you find ways to help deal with emotional difficulties.
• Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR): a form of psychotherapy, EMDR helps you overcome memories of past traumatic events or upsetting experiences that negatively impact your mental health.
• Interpersonal Therapy (IPT): this talking therapy focuses on working to understand what is underpinning your current episode of depression and concentrates on what has triggered it.
• Talking Therapies for Couples: we offer behavioural couples therapy (BCT) and couples counselling for depression (CCfD) which can help couples understand how and why difficulties have occurred in past and present relationships.
• VR Phobia Therapy: this therapy helps you face your phobias which may impact your daily life and mental health through exposure therapy via virtual reality.
• Employment Support: for those receiving support from NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Talking Therapies, we can provide you with personalised employment support to help you find work or prepare for work.

These talking therapies are held in a safe and supportive environment, where you will work with a trained therapist to explore your emotions, develop coping strategies and create a safety plan, and better understand their thoughts and feelings.

To access these talking therapies to help you with feelings of overwhelm and your mental health, all you need to do is self-refer. You can either use our online referral assistant, GP/professional referrals or telephone service by calling us on 0333 188 1060 to begin your assessment.

Once you have had your assessment and are waiting to begin therapy, you may be interested in wondering what our talking therapies involve and how they might help you. To support you through this, we have created a set of information books:

• An Introduction to: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Approaches
• Get Ready to Start Therapy
• Next Steps to Therapy

At NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Talking Therapies, we are here to support you with feelings of overwhelm and the impact it may have on your mental health, no matter if you’re feeling anxious, lonely or exhausted, as well as feeling overwhelmed.

If you or someone you know is having a mental health crisis, like experiencing suicidal thoughts, you can get urgent help now.

Feeling overwhelmed FAQs

What are the signs of feeling overwhelmed?

The signs and symptoms of feeling overwhelmed often differ from person to person.

Typically, however, feeling overwhelmed presents as feeling anxious or irritable, experiencing sudden mood swings, struggling to concentrate or make decisions, experiencing physical pain like headaches and muscle aches, and feeling like you’re constantly on edge.

Alongside these symptoms, you may also feel stressed, exhausted or lonely as a result of the impact on your mental health.

When should I seek help for feeling overwhelmed?

If you experience any signs and symptoms of feeling overwhelmed persistently and for a prolonged period of time, it might be a good idea to begin seeking professional support for feeling overwhelmed.

You can self-refer or ask a GP or other healthcare professional to refer you to our talking therapies service if you are aged 18 or over, are registered with a GP in the Nottingham and wider Nottinghamshire area and are not currently undergoing any other sort of mental health treatment.

What support is available for feeling overwhelmed?

At NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Talking Therapies, we offer a range of services to support you with your mental health and help you cope with your emotions, especially if you are feeling overwhelmed.

Our services are designed to help you understand your feelings and develop coping strategies which can help you move forward. These include:

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• Counselling for Depression
• Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
• Interpersonal Therapy
• Talking Therapies for Couples
• VR Phobia Therapy
• Employment Support

We also offer mindfulness based programmes – mindfulness for depression and mindfulness for health – and our Healthy Living Healthy Minds programme to support your mental health through a balanced lifestyle.

Also, we provide support to individuals who are coping with cancer, as well as their family.

How can I get support for feeling overwhelmed?

Getting support if you’re feeling overwhelmed may seem difficult, but the process is simple. All you need to do is self-refer via our online referral assistant or through a GP/professional referrals. Or, if you’d prefer to speak to a member of our team, you can call us on 0333 188 1060.

From here, we will organise and conduct your initial assessment, then decide which talking therapy treatment is right for you.