Help is at hand with ‘Beating the Blues

Covid-19 has left many of us feeling a bit down and anxious about the future.

“Beating the Blues” is an innovative interactive online cognitive behavioural therapy programme that can offer you help, hope and an emotionally healthier future, having been approved for treating depression and anxiety by the NHS.

Anxiety, depression and low mood are increasingly common in the UK right now, with many people worried about job security, money, isolation and unemployment, as well as loneliness and fear of catching Covid-19.

One survey of 16,000 people, conducted during April and May 2020, found that half of adults and two-thirds of young people said their mental health had worsened during the lockdown.

The charity MIND has described the situation as a mental health emergency and yet one in three adults and one in four young people did not feel entitled to seek help because they didn’t feel they deserved it!

Barriers to getting help include the stigma some still perceive to admitting to a mental health issue, reluctance to take anti-depressants, long NHS waiting lists for psychological therapies or just not realising your mood disorder is serious enough to warrant treatment.

How online CBT can help with depression and anxiety

The first step to getting help for depression is recognising the symptoms which can range from a general feeling of being in low spirits to more severe issues that interfere with your daily life and can feel overwhelming. Feeling depressed can also cause anxiety symptoms, a type of fear usually associated with something going wrong in the future.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), is a talking therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave and has been shown to be an effective treatment for both mild-tomoderate depression and anxiety, and that is where Beating the Blues (BTB) can help.

BTB is very convenient to access, as you can log on for your sessions 24/7 when you need it, at a time and place to suit your schedule. You may also prefer the anonymity that online treatment offers. Each of the 8 weekly sessions consist of three to four interactive modules you can work through yourself in around ten to fifteen minutes each. You will then be expected to apply the techniques to your everyday life by completing specific exercises in the following week.

Why not check your mood for free?

Take a free, confidential and easy online test at www.checkmymentalhealth.co.uk. The makers of the programme have made it available to readers The Hen House, Palace Farm Office, Witham on the Hill, Lincolnshire PE10 0JH of ‘Discovering Bourne’, at a special discounted price of just £39.95 (normally £59.95). Use the discount code Bourne2020 at www.beatingtheblues.co.uk/product/beating-the-blues.