Here is what you can do if you are not feeling well mentally and have sought asylum
If you have fled, you may feel stress, sleep poorly or have poor concentration. These characteristics are part of your mental health. This form of health is about how you feel. Read here about mental health and what you can do to feel better.
Stress is often the cause of not feeling well
When you flee to another country, you may feel less healthy. Often this is due to stress. When you are stressed, you may feel gloomy and anxious. Some people do not want to connect with others and have trouble trusting others. These are called psychological or mental complaints. Sometimes it can also cause physical symptoms, such as pain and not feeling like eating.
It is not unusual to experience this if you have fled. Stress is your body's natural response to difficult or traumatic events. It is quite normal. Often these symptoms go away after a while. Sometimes you need help to get better again.
Here is how to recognise in yourself that you are not feeling well mentally
There are many different characteristics of stress. From the characteristics below, you can recognise if you are not feeling healthy mentally.
Poor sleep
Worrying too much
Fatigue
Difficulty concentrating
Forgetfulness
Quickly becoming angry
Quickly cry and becoming startled
Having scary dreams
Of course, there are other characteristics involved in mental health. If you feel unwell for an extended period of time and your gloomy or stressed feelings do not go away, you have mental complaints. There are many different words for mental complaints. Sometimes they also indicate, for example, that you experience mental problems or that you do not feel healthy mentally.
What you can do yourself if you suffer from mental symptoms
Sometimes you can do things yourself to feel better again. Below are the things you can try yourself to feel better.
Talking helps
Being active
Rhythm in your life
Healthy eating
Immerse yourself in something you enjoy
Seek professional help if your bad feelings do not go away or get worse
Sometimes the symptoms become very severe and you can become mentally ill, this is also called mental illness. It does not mean that you have gone crazy but it does mean that you have been under severe stress for an extended period of time and your body and head cannot recover from the stress on their own.
There are treatments that can help you cope better with these mental health problems and improve your mental health. But this usually cannot be done alone. You then need professional help from a psychologist, for example. Below we give a few examples of mental illnesses. If you think you have them, seek professional help.
Depression
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Dependence on or addiction to medication, drugs or alcohol
You can seek professional help through your doctor
If your symptoms have not gone away after a month or are getting worse, see your GP. The GP can refer you to social workers in the area. For example, a psychologist, practice counsellor or nurse who knows a lot about mental complaints.
The GP often cannot help you resolve your mental symptoms on your own. However, the GP listens to your story and considers what help is best for you. The doctor provides advice about sleeping and eating. And sometimes the GP will give you medication for a few days to help you sleep better.