Article

Anxiety and Other Mental Health Resources

4 min read • first published • updated

Anxiety, stress or panic are things everyone experiences sometimes, things most people can manage and cope with most of the time.

But if any or all of those things:

  • feels unmanageable for you OR
  • keeps happening about things that aren’t based in reality OR
  • becomes constant or chronic, rather than only happening every now and then, and pretty easily passing⁠ in a few minutes, hours or days

Then you probably need some qualified help and information to learn to cope with and manage those ways of feeling, and to reduce how often or intensely they occur. 

If what you’ve been doing to manage these feelings doesn’t seem to be making any difference in the long-term, or makes you feel better at first but leaves you feeling even worse later, you’ll need qualified help and information to figure out⁠ what ways of dealing do work.

Needing mental health help isn’t anything for anyone to ever feel ashamed of, just like needing healthcare for our bodies isn’t: mental healthcare is just healthcare for our minds, and it’s something many people utilize and benefit from. If a mental health issue, like anxiety, is causing you suffering and getting in the way of your life and how you want to live it, then getting help and learning management skills can reduce or alleviate that suffering. The rates of anxiety disorders – like OCD, social anxiety or generalized anxiety disorder – in young people worldwide have been increasing greatly over the last decade, so know that if you’re struggling with this, you aren’t weird or alone.
 

If you would like help managing and coping with anxiety or other mental health issues:

  • Contact a healthcare provider⁠. You can either start by contacting a mental healthcare provider specifically, or with a general healthcare provider, and ask them for a referral to a mental healthcare provider.
  • Look into online support groups specifically for those suffering from anxiety or the mental health issue you’re struggling with. Entering “online anxiety support group” into a search engine will net you a range of good results.
  • Check out the online, hotline and print resources below for anxiety help.

To find out more about anxiety and get help:

Mental health phone hotlines:

  • Australia: The SANE Helpline: 1800 187 263
  • Australia: Lifeline Australia: 13 11 14
  • Canada: Kids Help Phone: 1 800 668 6868
  • India: iCALL Psychosocial Helpline: 9152987821
  • Malaysia: Befrienders Hotline: 603-76272929
  • South Africa: The South African Depression and Anxiety Group: 0800 456 789
  • United Kingdom: MIND infoline: 0300 123 3393
  • United Kingdom: Anxiety UK Self-Care Infoline: 03444 775 774
  • United States: National Mental Health Association Hotline: 800-273-8255

Some books for anxiety and stress management self-help:

To find out more about pregnancy phobia and anxiety, specifically:

Please note that many of these articles are not gender⁠-inclusive!

self-help
support
resources
disability

Similar articles and advice

Article

What's An Abortion, Anyway? An Interview with Children's Book Author Carly Manes

  • Gabriel Leão

Abortion can be hard for many adults to understand and process, let alone for kids. As with so many potentially major life events, they are often left in the dark without any comment or explanation as if nothing happened, or receive a rigid lecture from an authority figure imposing only their singular point of view. The book “What’s an Abortion, Anyway?” proposes a new, more fluid and non-judgmental way to explain this event to the small ones.