4 Common Mental Health Struggles Across All Ages (& What Can Help)

It can sometimes be difficult to understand why your mind starts feeling a bit off. Nothing major or upsetting might have happened recently, but you could still find yourself getting irritated easily, zoning out more often, or just feeling stuck in your own thoughts.

These moments don’t always come with warning signs, but they’re typically a result of built-up stress along with other bad habits, such as unhealthy sleeping patterns.

However, mental health struggles aren’t limited to any one stage of life. They can show up when you’re in school, starting your professional career, raising kids, or even later when life slows down. The challenges might look different, but the weight of them often feels the same.

The good news is that no matter how you’ve been feeling lately, there are always going to be ways (both professional and internal) to deal with these mental health struggles in an effective, healthy manner.

In this article, we’ve broken down 4 common mental and emotional struggles people experience at different ages and the kind of support that has helped many get through them.

1. Addiction

You might have a habit that you used to cope with an event in your life, which started small but has now become a partial addiction. Maybe it was a few drinks after work, a smoke before bed, or needlessly scrolling through your phone for hours, even when you don’t enjoy it anymore.

At first, it might have helped you just enough to get through the day, but that little escape eventually becomes part of your routine and leads to unhealthier consequences. You start craving it at all times and feel better when it’s there and worse when it’s not.

That’s when it starts to take more than it gives, making it crucial to limit yourself and know when to stop. That said, one of the hardest parts about addiction is trying to stop it, because even when you try your best to cut down on these habits, the urges to relapse are very strong and keep coming back.

Everyone’s relationship with addiction looks a little different, so it helps to explore what would help you the best. Some people respond well to a structured routine, while others prefer a more hands-on approach with a professional like Kamal from London Hypnotherapy and NLP to help them at their own pace.

It can be a useful step forward if you’re feeling stuck, as hypnotherapy focuses on shifting some of the deeper thought patterns and emotional triggers tied to the habit, helping you overcome your addiction.

If you believe that you’re someone who could benefit from professional support, you could also reach out to City Hypno for hypnotherapy for addiction in London.

2. Anxiety & Overthinking

It’s common for people to be overwhelmed by their thoughts every once in a while and feel anxious about an upcoming event or their future in general. This can be tiring and mess with your routine, as you won’t be able to focus on your daily tasks due to the same thoughts popping up in your mind again and again.

When you catch yourself going over the same worries or doubts, every minor problem starts seeming like a big one. It’s easy to get stuck in this cycle of self-doubt and overthinking, making stress harder to handle.

Trying to break out of that cycle on your own is tough, especially when your mind feels like it’s working against you. That’s where professional help, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), can help you clear your thoughts and break free from the self-destructive loop.

A CBT professional helps you spot patterns in your thoughts that keep you caught up and gives you healthy advice to change how you respond to them. It’s a practical approach that is well known to address dysfunctional emotions and maladaptive behaviours by relying on comprehensive goal-oriented procedures.

If you’re looking for CBT therapy in Marylebone, Mark GR is an experienced therapist who takes a relational and integrative approach, working closely with you to understand your unique challenges.

This approach allows you to challenge your negative thought patterns and behaviours, helping you develop effective coping skills and strategies that address a range of psychological issues.

3. Low Mood in Children

It can sometimes be difficult to tell when a child isn’t feeling their best, because things like not saying much or brushing things off like nothing’s wrong are common even in adults, making it difficult to spot unusual patterns.

However, studies show that persistent low mood in children often shows up in ways adults might miss, like changes in sleep, less interest in playing, getting upset more easily, avoiding friends, or just seeming “off” for longer than usual.

Oftentimes, parents or carers brush these signs aside as just a “phase”, especially when the child doesn’t talk much about what’s been on their mind lately. Even when they sense that something might be bothering their child, it’s tough to know where to start and how.

Many children find it hard to describe how they’re feeling or why they feel that way, which makes it harder for them to process those emotions on their own. If you have a child who’s going through something similar and you’re confused about how to approach them, professional support could benefit you greatly.

Consider talking to a child therapist, as they’re well-equipped with tools and tactics to help your child manage stress, anxiety, and other emotional difficulties in their daily lives with more ease.

If you’re looking for solution-focused therapy in St Albans, The Youth Fairy are an experienced and compassionate team of solution-focused therapists who are passionate about supporting the mental health and well-being of children and young adults. Their therapists are based all over the UK, so you can schedule a consultation with a therapist in your area. 

4. Uncertainty About Your Future

Life gets quieter after a certain point, which isn’t always a bad thing, but it can be if it leads you to overthink your future. There’s less rushing around and fewer things need your attention, and in that quiet, you might start thinking about things you didn’t really have time to before.

At this point in life (typically near or after retirement), you may ask yourself what the past few years or decades of your life have been all about or what to do next.

That feeling of being needed—by work, by family, and by people around you—starts to shift, or maybe even fade a little, and when it does, it’s easy to feel like something’s missing, even if everything should be fine on paper.

Will you be remembered the way you always wanted to be by your colleagues? Will your children have everything they need to live a fulfilling life? Is your retirement plan good enough to support the kind of life you want to live?

Questions like these have a way of creeping in when the noise in your life dies down. However, they’re not signs that something’s wrong, just that you’ve reached a point where your mind is trying to find new footing.

It’s important to deal with these thoughts in a healthy way rather than going down a rabbit hole of self-doubt. You must remind yourself that you don’t need all the answers at once or have some big plan laid out.

What helps is having room to process those thoughts without rushing past them or taking them too negatively. Take stock of where you are now, what still feels meaningful, and what could be worth exploring in the next chapter of your life.

To Sum Up

From a child learning to gradually cope with becoming an adult to an adult facing the quiet phase of later life, mental health struggles can look different depending on your age and circumstances, but they’re all valid.

There’s no singular solution to these mental struggles, as it all comes down to what helps you specifically. It’s important to consult a professional if things feel too overwhelming while still working on your mental health on a personal level.

No matter what happens, you should know at all times that whatever you’re going through, you’re not alone, and things can start to feel lighter with the right kind of support.