What we treat

Long Term Physical Health Conditions

Long Term Conditions

Our Long Term Conditions Team works with people who are experiencing stress, anxiety and low mood, who are also living with a long-term physical health condition.

Living with a long-term condition can be challenging. Many people with long-term conditions or persistent physical symptoms like chronic pain or fatigue can experience times when they feel worried, stressed or down.

Feeling like this can change how you think and feel about yourself and impact on what you do in your daily life. These feelings can also make it harder for you to feel in control of, and manage, your long-term condition the way you want to. 

It is very common when living with a long-term health condition to experience lots of changes, including:

  • Comparisons to our former self

  • Comparisons to other people who appear to be coping better

  • Feeling rejected, dismissed or unheard by medical professionals

  • Feeling hopeless, dejected and anxious  about the future

  • Feeling burdensome to others and that we are letting others down

  • Feelings of alienation from people close to us and/or wider society

  • Feelings of frustration at changes in our ability to manage daily tasks

  • Difficulties adjusting to a different pace in our life

 

Talking Therapies Portsmouth offer a wide variety of options to provide mental health support for people experiencing difficulties because of their long-term health conditions.

The therapists who work in the team receive specialist training and supervision for working with people who have both long-term physical health conditions and emotional challenges such as stress, sleep problems, low mood or anxiety.

We work with the mental health impact of any long-term physical health condition.

We have also developed close working links with other care teams, both in the hospital and community, including but not limited to cancer, stroke, persistent pain, chronic fatigue, diabetes (type 1 and 2), hormonal health conditions, cardiac conditions, respiratory conditions, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Functional Neurological Disorder.

 

Talking Therapies Portsmouth also welcome friends, family and carers whose mental health has been affected by the long-term health condition of a loved one.

Conditions we can support

Please see our Hormonal Health page for more detailed information.

Other struggles

Read more about the other difficulties we treat:

Depression

Worrying lots about different things

Illness anxiety

Flashbacks or nightmares of a trauma

Obsessive thoughts, compulsive behaviours

Social anxiety

Specific phobias

Panic attacks

Perceived flaws in appearance

Loss or bereavement

Expressing anger

Problems in relationships

Talking therapy

If you’re struggling with stress, read about the talking therapies we offer to see how they could help you. You may also like to read some feedback and encouragements by those who received therapy with us.

Self-help resources

Be sure to check out our useful section of self-help resources for wellbeing.

Employment advice

Alongside therapy our Employment Team can help you find employment or training, and support you with workplace adjustments or disputes.