Mental health

Living with a spinal injury can be stressful, both physically and emotionally. This stress may disrupt your sleep, or your sleep may be disrupted by physical factors resulting from your injury.

Contacts and resources to help you get the support you need.

Stress directly affects everyone's health. If you are living with a spinal cord injury, it is likely that you will face more stress during an ordinary day. Learning to minimise this stress will go a long way towards maximising your health.

Depression is common in the general population. However if you have experienced a major trauma or loss you are more inclined to experience a period of depression. Knowing what to look for can help you get the support that you need.

Anxiety is common in the general population. If you have suffered a spinal cord injury, the likelihood of you suffering anxiety increases. There are many strategies to help, with therapy and counselling being most successful.

When you have experienced a significant injury, you are likely to have new thoughts, feelings and emotions. These emotions might feel overwhelming. Professional psychological help can assist you to deal with these feelings.

Some people have suicidal thoughts after they survive a severe trauma such as a spinal cord injury. This can be frightening for the person, and for those around them. Surprisingly, talking about it is the best solution. Depression and suicide are linked in a complex way. While most depressed people do not attempt suicide, people who take their lives are likely to be depressed prior to their death.

Antidepressants are medicines that are used to treat the psychological and physical symptoms of depression.