Our approach to mental health emergencies
We will make every effort to assist you if you or a loved one experiences a mental health emergency by setting up an immediate appointment with a psychiatrist who can help you deal with the situation. All of our psychiatrists have a wealth of expertise in assisting patients with crises related to their mental health.
Because you have no control over mental health emergencies, you shouldn’t ever feel guilty, ashamed, or embarrassed about asking for assistance. No matter what your issue is, we will treat you with respect and dignity and provide a safe, private, and compassionate environment for you to discuss it.
What is mental health emergency?
No matter the time, there might be a mental health emergency. Sometimes a trigger is there (for example, an argument with your partner). They can, however, occasionally come out of the blue, much like panic attacks.
An emotional breakdown, a crisis, or a period of suicidal thoughts are all examples of mental health emergencies. It is crucial to get in touch with a member of your family, a reliable friend, or a professional if this happens. Or, if you start to see any warning signals, getting in touch with someone could mean completely avoiding the issue.
The warning signs may be easier for you to spot than they are if you are worried about a family member or a close friend. You can get in touch with us for guidance if you start to notice anything odd about their behavior. You can schedule a consultation with a psychiatrist to go over your worries about a loved one or family member. In these situations, all the information is private, thus you are not required to give us this person’s specifics. In these situations, we will explain the problem to you and offer solutions.
What are the signs of a mental health emergency?
Depending on the individual and the situation, a mental health emergency can present a variety of symptoms. Here are some instances of what you might go through if you require immediate mental health care:
- Feeling that you could harm yourself
- Considering doing anything to hurt someone else
- Feeling like “throwing in the towel” because you can’t take it anymore or cope with it any longer
- The presence of suicidal ideas, even fleeting ones. or looking into ways to do it.
- Self-harming in some form, like skin slicing or burning (self-harm)
- Having the impression that you are about to die or that death would be preferable
- Feeling that no one is trustworthy
- Having negative feelings
- Having distressing, intrusive, or recurrent thoughts
- Experiencing memories or pictures that are incredibly unpleasant
- You’re hearing ominous whispers in your head.
- experiencing a loss of control
- Exhibiting risky, rash, or impulsive behaviour, such as spending a lot of money, gambling a lot, or doing anything else that could be harmful to your health or cause issues.
- Feeling like you are in crisis or need immediate help because you think you are addicted to drinking, drugs, sex, or something else
- Feeling extremely uneasy, worried, or afraid of what is going on around you.
How do you help with mental health emergencies?
Over the phone
- Give guidance based on your circumstances and symptoms.
- Suggest medicine or schedule an appointment
- Plan frequent phone calls to check in on you.
- Make plans for a family member or another person to visit you.
Long-term help
- Diagnosis and evaluation of your symptoms.
- A personalized course of action created for your particular set of circumstances and symptoms
Treatment options may include a combination of medicine, stress-reduction methods, psychotherapy, and psychological talking therapy (nutrition, exercise, and sleep)
How can the Cognivia Psychiatry Clinic help me with a mental health emergency?
Please feel welcome to contact our friendly reception staff with any general or medical enquiries. Our doctors will receive or return any urgent calls.
If we determine that it would be in your best interests to see one of our psychiatrists, we will schedule an immediate appointment for you. Following the emergency psychiatry evaluation, the psychiatrist may be able to admit you if necessary or may suggest alternative forms of therapy.
If the psychiatrist believes that you might need to be admitted into a mental institution, they will talk to you about it.
How can I get help outside of office hours?
If our phone lines are busy, you can select the best urgent mental health care option for you here:
Visit our website: https://www.drnehagupta.com/
Emergency Line: +91-9156999844
Speak with your doctor, who might be able to help you.
What is a welfare check?
When a police officer visits a person’s house to inquire about their well-being, the procedure is known as a welfare check or wellness check.
A welfare check could be a safe and responsible method to escalate a mental health emergency if you or someone you know is experiencing one.
You must be certain that the person you are worried about is unquestionably acting in a way that worries you and that they might need immediate care before calling the police to ask for a welfare check. For instance, if you think someone may have taken a medicine overdose.
What happens after a welfare check?
If the person for whom you requested a welfare check is discovered to be in good health, the police may decide to let you know and take no further action.
What is a panic attack?
A panic attack is a sudden flood of feelings that makes you feel incredibly anxious and terrified. It is a heightened physical reaction to fear. These can arise either unprompted or as a result of something stressful happening in your environment. A panic attack isn’t a mental health emergency even if it can feel quite overwhelming because they are often brief. Recurrent attacks can happen to some people, which is a symptom of panic disorder.
During a panic attack somebody may experience any of the following symptoms:
- overwhelming anxiety and terror, almost as if you were ready to pass away
- Accelerated heart rate and palpitations
- Feeling like you’re having a heart attack due to chest tightness
- Sweating excessively, especially on the palms
- Shivering, trembling or shaking
- Having trouble breathing and occasionally feeling like you’re suffocating
- Encounters with the hereafter or a sense of separation from oneself
I think I’m having a panic attack, what do I do?
Attacks caused by panic can be terrifying or overwhelming. Each person will experience panic attacks in a different way according to their individual fears. For instance, some people might have panic attacks as a result of being in a large throng of people, whilst others might experience panic attacks as a result of being terrified of being alone themselves.
A panic attack is nothing more than a heightened fear reaction. The brain receives a message when the body senses a threat. The flight-fight-freeze response, which occurs when someone is faced with a terrifying scenario like a panic attack, is a common response. This indicates that people have evolved to either fly away from a dangerous circumstance, defend themselves against an impending threat, or freeze into inaction. The “freeze” response is frequently used when someone is experiencing a panic attack since they frequently don’t feel like they can resist or flee from the attack. Because of this, some people who are having a panic attack may feel that they are unable to think, speak, or even move properly.
It’s vital to understand that panic attacks are common and can be treated, even if the mental and physical experience of one can be quite unpleasant.
It’s crucial to describe what’s happening to a friend or someone you trust if you believe you could be having a panic attack.
If you know you’re having a panic attack, there are a number of techniques that may assist to lessen some of the more noticeable symptoms right away. However, we always advise speaking with your general practitioner, doctor, or therapist to let them know that you are having panic attacks.
Some strategies that could help include:
1 Go somewhere calm and quiet where you can just concentrate on yourself and you’re breathing.
2 Breathing deeply and slowly, making sure your exhale is longer than your inhale
3 Reorient yourself to the environment and take a time to re-establish mental contact.
The majority of the time, a panic attack will dissipate after a few minutes, although it might occasionally last for several hours.
Am I having a panic attack or a heart attack?
A panic episode can occasionally be misinterpreted as a heart attack, despite the fact that they are completely different from one another. If unsure, call emergency services, who can talk to you over the phone about your symptoms and dispatch an ambulance if necessary.
Here are some of the key differences to look out for:
Specific panic attack symptoms:
- can take place when you’re sleeping.
- Palpitations
- Breathing quickly yet still feeling out of breath
- Fear, dread, and imminent disaster
- The majority of symptoms go away after 20 to 30 minutes.
- Tingling in the fingers and toes or in other places, including the lips
Specific heart attack symptoms:
- Can occur at any time, whether you are doing anything or sleeping.
- Chest tightness and pain that can travel up the arm, jaw, or shoulder blades
- The agony can linger for hours and usually gets worse.
- If it’s severe, it can make the victim pass out.
- Sweating heavily
- Being or feeling ill
Can a panic attack kill me?
A panic attack cannot kill you, even though it may feel like it can. The majority of the time, panic episodes last no more than 30 minutes before ending without causing any lasting issues. There is no elevated risk of death as a result of panic disorder, which affects a small percentage of people and is marked by recurrent panic attacks.
What is the difference between a panic attack and an anxiety attack?
An anxiety episode is typically less severe than a panic attack. It typically results from an anxious-inducing event or circumstance, but it may persist longer than a panic episode and anxiety sensations may creep up gradually.
A panic attack, on the other hand, is typically accompanied by extremely potent sensations of anxiety and a sense of unreality that might manifest as a body-wide outburst of intense emotion. Symptoms of a panic attack normally go away after thirty minutes (but not always). An anxiety attack is typically brought on by a perceived stressor or threat, but panic attacks can seem random and lack evident triggers.
An anxiety attack can make the person feel incredibly uneasy or agitated, but to a smaller extent and is generally more controllable at the time it happens.
What triggers a panic attack?
Each person has unique triggers. What causes anxiety in one individual may not mean much to another. One person’s panic attack might be brought on by their anxiety over saying the incorrect thing, while another person’s panic attack might be brought on by their conviction that they left the front door unlocked. Furthermore, there is no clear cause or warning sign for panic episodes. In the event that you are having panic attacks, we suggest that you speak with your doctor and a trusted friend or relative. Keep a little diary and record the times that you experience panic attacks to discover if there is any pattern to the attacks.
What is a mental breakdown?
The phrase “mental breakdown,” sometimes known as “nervous breakdown,” refers to extreme emotional discomfort and agony. It’s a catch-all phrase used when someone’s emotional problems are interfering with their ability to go about their daily lives normally.
Although there are numerous factors that might lead to a mental breakdown, we typically associate them with extreme anxiety, sadness, or burnout.
What is mania or having a manic episode?
Mania is an episode of abnormally high mood or energy that is typically linked to bipolar disorder. Days, weeks, or months may pass during a manic episode.
Even if those around them try to convince them, a person who is going through a manic episode is unlikely to realize there is a problem. Supporting the person is frequently quite challenging because of this. Even those who have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and have previously gone through manic episodes might not be able to identify the signs of mania when they do so again.
A person with mania can experience any of the following symptoms:
- Greater than usual levels of energy
- Having multiple days of consecutively shorter sleep than usual but feeling great
- Having a restless and restless feeling
- Higher self-esteem, grandiose feelings, and/or extreme confidence
- Getting sidetracked from easy activities easily
- Being incredibly chatty
- Having many fresh plans, ideas, and thoughts
- A difficult-to-control, active, rushing mind
- Taking up numerous new projects that you have no realistic chance of finishing
- Increased sexual drive
- Acting out of character and in an overly familiar fashion
- Actively engaging in unsafe or dangerous behaviors, such as irrational sex
- Gambling or exceedingly high spending
Mania is frequently followed by a period of depression, so it’s critical to treat it to lessen the effects of the manic phase and lessen the likelihood or severity of the depression if it does occur.
Hypomania, a milder form of mania that still results in an increase in vigor and mood, can also happen. In general, bipolar II disorder is where this is more frequently observed.
Someone I know has psychosis, should I be afraid?
The word “psychotic” is frequently used in a derogatory, everyday context. The phrases “they are a total psycho” and “when they found out, they got psychotic” have probably been used by others. The movie “American Psycho” does little to dispel our misconceptions about psychopathology because it shows a bloodthirsty killer who is motivated by delusions.
In actuality, a psychotic individual is much more likely to hurt oneself than to harm another person. Psychotic episodes and psychoses are extremely upsetting and unsettling for the person experiencing them, and they are in no way a sign of personal failing on the part of the sufferer.
This makes it even more crucial that you offer this individual the best assistance you can and get them the right help if you think they are exhibiting any signs of psychosis.
What is a psychotic episode?
A psychotic episode is when a person experiences unreal sights, sounds, sensations, or odors. The technical terms are hallucinations of the visual, auditory, tactile, or olfactory types. Delusions, in which a person believes things that are false, are another feature of psychosis. The most frequent occurrences of delusions are among those who have schizophrenia, severe depression, or manic periods. Although each person with psychosis will have unique symptoms, frequent descriptions of psychotic episodes include feeling like:
- They believe they can hear voices that others cannot
- Engrossed in their own ideas or world and are disconnected from reality
- Hyperaware of their internal environment
- The steadfast conviction that someone or something is watching them or coming after them
- Difficulty paying attention
- Distrust of family members and neighbours, which may cause social withdrawal
- Separated from others and thinking
Am I having a psychotic episode?
It can be quite challenging to detect if you are experiencing a psychotic episode since a psychotic episode is characterized by a person’s inability to distinguish between what is real and what is imagined.
Psychosis typically develops after a specific mental health illness, a drug overdose, or a highly traumatic event or setting. It rarely occurs suddenly.
There are a few indicators that someone may be suffering a psychotic episode, but only a qualified mental health expert can determine with certainty whether this is the case.
What are the warning signs of psychosis?
- Being able to perceive, hear, smell, or taste things that others cannot
- Having strong emotional attachments to opinions they can’t change despite reasoned advice from their family, friends, or doctors
- Separating from family and friends
- Having doubts or misgivings about previously trusted individuals
- Presenting as very emotionless and bland
- Ignoring personal hygiene or self-care
- Finding it exceedingly challenging to focus on work or school
- A severe decline in performance at work or in school that is unexplained
