{"id":342,"date":"2025-06-27T10:41:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T09:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/neuropsychology\/emotional-well-being\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T10:42:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T09:42:48","slug":"emotional-well-being","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/neuropsychology\/emotional-well-being\/","title":{"rendered":"Emotional well-being"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It is&nbsp;natural for people to go through periods of feeling worried or low, irritated or tired.&nbsp;Being diagnosed&nbsp;and living with&nbsp;a neurological condition can be difficult.&nbsp;Coming to terms with such illnesses and adapting to the changes that may be required can be hard.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some common emotional difficulties experienced by people&nbsp;living with&nbsp;a&nbsp;neurological condition&nbsp;include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-light-accent-grey-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Low mood or depression<br><br>Worry or anxiety<br><br>Frustration, irritation or anger<br><br>Sleep problems<br><br>Fatigue<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>It can sometimes be difficult to know why you are feeling this way and what you can do about it. Many people adjust to these changes as they learn more about their own condition and make changes&nbsp;to their life. However, sometimes&nbsp;emotional difficulties&nbsp;can persist and&nbsp;interfere with your day to day life. At these times,&nbsp;it is&nbsp;helpful to seek advice&nbsp;and&nbsp;support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Self-help<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Psychological distress&nbsp;in response to a neurological event or illness&nbsp;is&nbsp;common and not everyone needs to see a psychologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following self-help material can be given to patients by healthcare professionals or accessed directly by patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Disclaimer:&nbsp;If your symptoms persist then seek&nbsp;support from&nbsp;your health&nbsp;care team.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhsinform.scot\/healthy-living\/mental-wellbeing\/stress\/breathing-and-relaxation-exercises\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Steps for stress<\/a>&nbsp;is a Scottish Government resource that has online information and videos about stress and how to manage it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ithriveedinburgh.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">iThrive<\/a> is an information hub for mental health and wellbeing resources in Edinburgh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.headspace.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Headspace<\/a>&nbsp;is a meditation app for your phone, or can be accessed via a website on your&nbsp;computer that contains a range of meditation and relaxation exercises. There is a free trial period so you can try it&nbsp;before you consider paying for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhsinform.scot\/illnesses-and-conditions\/mental-health\/mental-health-self-help-guides\/anxiety-self-help-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NHS Inform &#8211; Anxiety self-help guide<\/a>&nbsp;NHS Inform is a webpage that provides information and guided activities to manage a range of different mental health conditions. This anxiety self-help guide is based on a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) approach to understanding and treating anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/llttf.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Living life to the full<\/a>&nbsp;is a free online course that covers low mood and stress and some of the common problems they cause.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are very strong links between activity and positive&nbsp;mental health.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.edinburgh.gov.uk\/keeping-fit-getting-active\/activities-adults\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;Edinburgh City Council&nbsp;<\/a>can help you find exercise classes in your area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhsinform.scot\/illnesses-and-conditions\/mental-health\/mental-health-self-help-guides\/depression-self-help-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NHS Inform &#8211; Depression self-help guide<\/a>\u00a0NHS Inform is a webpage that provides information and guided activities to manage a range of different mental health conditions. This depression self-help guide is based on a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) approach to understanding and treating depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">General Mental Health Resources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The<a href=\"https:\/\/web.ntw.nhs.uk\/selfhelp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;NHS<\/a>&nbsp;have some useful&nbsp;self-help guides that cover a range of mental health problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/breathingspace.scot\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Breathing space<\/a>&nbsp;is a free&nbsp;helpline you can call to talk through your troubles. Their free contact number is:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>0800 83 85 87<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Counselling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you feel that counselling would be a better option for you, there is information on&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/conditions\/counselling\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NHS website<\/a>&nbsp;about counselling and where you can find counselling services near you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is&nbsp;natural for people to go through periods of feeling worried or low, irritated or tired.&nbsp;Being diagnosed&nbsp;and living with&nbsp;a neurological condition can be difficult.&nbsp;Coming to terms with such illnesses and adapting to the changes that may be required can be hard.&nbsp; Some common emotional difficulties experienced by people&nbsp;living with&nbsp;a&nbsp;neurological condition&nbsp;include: Low mood or depression Worry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":21,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/widewidth.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"class_list":["post-342","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"NHS Lothian","author_link":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/neuropsychology\/author\/nhs-lothian\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":false,"rttpg_excerpt":"It is&nbsp;natural for people to go through periods of feeling worried or low, irritated or tired.&nbsp;Being diagnosed&nbsp;and living with&nbsp;a neurological condition can be difficult.&nbsp;Coming to terms with such illnesses and adapting to the changes that may be required can be hard.&nbsp; Some common emotional difficulties experienced by people&nbsp;living with&nbsp;a&nbsp;neurological condition&nbsp;include: Low mood or depression Worry","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/neuropsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/neuropsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/neuropsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/neuropsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/neuropsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/neuropsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1067,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/neuropsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/342\/revisions\/1067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/neuropsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/services.nhslothian.scot\/neuropsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}