Talking therapies

Talking therapies, or psychological therapies, are effective and confidential treatments delivered by fully trained and accredited NHS practitioners. They can help if you're struggling with things like feelings of depression, excessive worry, social anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Treatment for depression and anxiety | NHS Talking Therapies (BSL)

Are you finding life a struggle?

Or perhaps you’ve been feeling stressed, anxious or depressed.

The NHS is here for you.

Our Talking Therapies services can help.

These provide a range of psychological therapies that are effective for anxiety or depression, which are mental health problems that lots of us experience.

You can refer yourself or talk to your GP.

Go to nhs.uk/talk to find your local Talking Therapies service.

To be eligible you just need to be registered with a GP.

You can either fill in an online form, phone the service up, or email.

Someone from the service will get in touch.

They’ll ask for more details about the problems you’ve been having. This is called an assessment.

The assessment helps them understand what sort of help would be recommended for the particular problems you are facing.

They will discuss options for you to consider, which could include for instance working through self-help materials with guidance form a practitioner, practical exercises, or 1 to 1 sessions.

You may be offered cognitive behavioural therapy, which is based on understanding a making changes to the way you think and behave.

There may be a choice of different therapy options too.

The treatment options offered by NHS Talking Therapies are practical and can help with a range of problems with anxiety and depression, including phobias, panic attacks and agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, social anxiety, generalised anxiety, health anxiety, body dysmorphia and post-traumatic stress disorder.

They can also help to support you to cope with long-term conditions like diabetes, heart disease or cancer.

If you’re struggling with your mental health, the NHS Talking Therapies services are here for you.

Refer yourself to NHS Talking Therapies today.

You do not need to have a diagnosed mental health problem to refer yourself to an NHS talking therapies service.

Getting support as soon as you start having difficulties can help to reduce their impact.

You may be:

feeling anxious
feeling low and hopeless
having panic attacks
finding it hard to cope with work, life or relationships
struggling with flashbacks and nightmares about things from your past
feeling stressed

Other things that talking therapies can help with include:

worrying a lot
obsessive thoughts or behaviours
fear social situations
being afraid of things, such as spiders, flying or heights (phobias)

Talking therapies can also help if you have mental health problems resulting from other conditions, such as diabetes, cancer, long-term pain or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

If you’ve already been diagnosed with a mental health condition you can still refer yourself to an NHS talking therapies service, or a GP can refer you.

What happens when you refer yourself

Contact your local NHS talking therapies service.
Someone from the service will get in touch, usually within a few weeks.
They’ll ask for more details about the problems you’re having. This is known as an assessment.
If the service thinks they can help you, they’ll recommend a therapy for you. This is based on your symptoms and how severe they are.
Waiting times for the first session vary. The service will tell you what to expect.

To access your local talking therapy service, click the link below for your area.

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