How are my feelings and mental health linked? 

Understanding the link between your feelings and mental health can be confusing. 

It can help to understand the difference between your thoughts, feelings and behaviours first: 

• Thoughts – what we think about ourselves and situations. 

• Feelings – part of our emotions and how we experience them. 

• Behaviours – the way we act and respond. 

For example, if we’re late for something, we may: 

• Think – badly about ourselves. We might tell ourselves it’s our fault and think of what we should have done differently. 

• Feel – worried, stressed, guilty and irritable. 

• Behave - rush, forget things or avoid going. 

We might end up being later or not going at all, which starts the cycle again.  

When a situation arises, our thoughts, feelings and behaviours connect to give us our experience. 

Being aware of our thoughts, feelings and behaviours can help us to judge how mentally well we’re feeling. You can use them as signs that something needs to change, like if you feel sad or low for a long period of time. Or you can use them as encouragement to keep doing something that makes you feel good. 

Are my feelings becoming a mental health problem? 

As we get older, we go through lots of emotional and physical changes. We might experience a range of feelings from moment to moment, or day to day, and some can feel more difficult to manage. 

If the way you’re feeling, thinking or acting lasts for a long time, becomes difficult to cope with, or stops you from doing the things you enjoy, it might be a sign that you need more help.