Feeling low every now and again is part of life. Everyone feels upset, sad or disheartened from time to time, but for some it can be a real problem. Young people with low mood may experience:  

• Persistent sadness 

• Tearfulness 

• Feeling hopeless 

• No longer enjoying activities 

• Lack of motivation 

• Fatigue and lack of energy 

• Social isolation 

• Disturbed sleep patterns 

• Restlessness 

• Irritability 

• Feeling spaced-out  

Everyone experiences some anxiety, worry or fear from time to time. For some young people, however, anxiety can be having a significant impact on their life and stop them from engaging in activities they would like to do. There are different types of anxiety disorder including:   

• General anxiety or worry – Young people may experience excessive worries about a range of different events or activities, have difficulties controlling worries, concentration problems, sleep disturbance

• Social anxiety - Young people with social anxiety experience an overwhelming fear of social situations – feeling overly worried before, during and after social situations. Social situations can include school-based activities (e.g. speaking to/in front of others) 

• Panic - Young people with panic may experience physical symptoms including heart racing, sweating, shaking, struggling to breathe, nausea, dizziness. These symptoms lead to behaviour change (e.g. avoidance or worrying about the consequences of symptoms (e.g. losing control, fear of dying) 

• Phobias – Young people may have an overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, place, situation, feeling or animal which is preventing them from doing things they would like to do

• Obsessive compulsive disorder – see below for more information  

Young people might experience OCD or a compulsion to think or do certain things. This is characterised by repetitive, unwanted or intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and irrational, excessive urges to do certain actions (compulsions) in order to suppress these obsessions/unwanted thoughts.  

Some examples of common types of compulsive behaviour in people with OCD include: cleaning or handwashing, counting, tapping, saying specific words/phrases, checking, asking for reassurance. Compulsions are not always obvious to other people. 

Young people with OCD may experience:  

• Intense fear or distress

• Need for perfectionism

• Need for order 

• Repetitive Actions 

• Intrusive thoughts 

• The urge to perform time-consuming or distressing compulsions  

Self-esteem is the opinion people have of themselves. Young people with low self-esteem view themselves in a more negative or critical way and often lack confidence in themselves and their abilities. This can make them feel less able to take on challenges and/or opportunities. Low self-esteem can be a predisposing and maintaining factor for low mood, anxiety, and other mental health difficulties.  

It is normal for young people to experience difficulties managing emotions. Support can be helpful when difficulties managing emotions are negatively impacting the young person’s daily functioning/quality of life and are outside the expected norms developmentally and culturally. For example, a young person might have regular meltdowns during lessons or at break times without any obvious triggers.  

Many young people experience difficulties managing relationships. Support can be helpful when the young person has persistent difficulties creating and maintaining healthy relationships. For example, they may frequently fall out with friends and be unable to establish good relationships with teachers. These interpersonal difficulties are negatively impacting a young person’s daily functioning/quality of life and are outside the expected range developmentally and culturally. 

Young people may worry about the type and quantity of food they are eating and may be actively restricting their diet. For example, they may be cutting out complete food groups (e.g. carbs, fats), overly focus on ‘clean’ or ‘healthy’ eating, and/or feel guilty after eating certain foods. Support can be helpful when these difficulties are negatively impacting a young person’s daily functioning/quality of life and are outside the expected range developmentally and culturally. For example, they have stopped going out with friends to eat socially or won’t eat with friends at lunchtime.

It is normal for young people to experience difficulties with body image. Support can be helpful when these difficulties are negatively impacting a young person’s daily functioning/quality of life and are outside the expected range developmentally and culturally. For example, young people may express that they ‘feel fat’ when objectively they are of normal weight. They may express dissatisfaction with a certain part of their body (e.g. stomach). They may overly check their body or avoid it (e.g. checking themselves in a mirror several times a day or completely avoiding mirrors). These difficulties may stop them from taking part in certain activities (e.g. PE).

We run workshops and groups that help you explore these topics.