{"id":4852,"date":"2026-10-27T15:26:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T15:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student\/?p=4852"},"modified":"2026-10-27T15:26:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T15:26:50","slug":"ask-a-gp-when-should-i-seek-help-if-ive-been-feeling-low","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student\/2026\/10\/27\/ask-a-gp-when-should-i-seek-help-if-ive-been-feeling-low\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask a GP: When should I seek help if I&#8217;ve been feeling low?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We understand that getting a GP (general practitioner) appointment can feel like A LOT of effort, especially if you haven\u2019t had the chance to register with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uwe.ac.uk\/life\/health-and-wellbeing\/access-health-services\/university-health-centre\">University Health Centre yet<\/a>. Sometimes, this can make Chat-GP-T an appealing option, but we want to make sure you get legitimate information from reputable sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, we\u2019ve done some of the heavy lifting for you and asked local GP \u2013 Dr Mark Isherwood &#8211; what the most common health questions they get asked by students this time of the year, and importantly, what they advise doing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First things first though, if you haven&#8217;t already, get registered with a doctor&#8217;s surgery! We have guidance on how to do this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uwe.ac.uk\/life\/health-and-wellbeing\/access-health-services\/register-with-a-doctor\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, over to Dr Mark&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">I\u2019ve been feeling anxious, overwhelmed or low. How do I know when to seek help?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">University can be an amazing experience, but let\u2019s be honest, there\u2019s also a lot to juggle between managing your studies, finances, relationships and everything else that comes with looking after yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, it\u2019s important to acknowledge that it\u2019s perfectly normal to have periods when you\u2019re feeling stressed, anxious or a bit low. But I find a lot of students asking me how are they supposed to know when it\u2019s time to ask for help?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Well, if you\u2019re already wondering whether you should seek help, that\u2019s often a pretty good reason to have a conversation with someone. I\u2019d particularly encourage you to seek support if things are starting to affect your everyday life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This can look like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Missing lectures, struggling to meet deadlines or finding that your academic work is suffering.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Withdrawing from friends, not going out as much, or the people close to you have started expressing concern.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Changes in sleep and eating habits &#8211; you might find yourself sleeping badly, sleeping excessively, eating much more or much less than usual, or struggling to concentrate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sometimes people develop ways of coping that actually make things worse. Perhaps you\u2019re staying up all night gaming to escape your worries, drinking more than usual, or using recreational drugs to switch off. The trouble is that these things can start to have consequences of their own, which then add to the original problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And one thing I particularly want to emphasise, if you\u2019re having thoughts of harming yourself, feeling that other people would be better off without you, or wondering whether you\u2019d be better off not being alive, please seek help promptly by calling <a href=\"https:\/\/111.nhs.uk\/\">NHS 111<\/a> and selecting the mental health option. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you feel you might act on thoughts of harming yourself, or you\u2019re in immediate danger, call 999 or attend A&amp;E. You don\u2019t have to wait until things reach crisis point. Talking to a friend, family member or somebody you trust is a really good first step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">UWE also provides free, confidential mental health support through the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uwe.ac.uk\/life\/health-and-wellbeing\/get-wellbeing-support\/student-support-247\">Wisdom app<\/a>, where you can speak to a qualified counsellor 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Simply download the Wisdom app and enter the UWE student access code MHA261053.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can also arrange an appointment with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uwe.ac.uk\/life\/health-and-wellbeing\/get-wellbeing-support\/wellbeing-service\">UWE\u2019s Wellbeing Service<\/a>, or speak to your GP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The important thing is that you don\u2019t have to struggle through it on your own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We understand that getting a GP (general practitioner) appointment can feel like A LOT of effort, especially if you haven\u2019t had the chance to register with the University Health Centre yet. Sometimes, this can make Chat-GP-T an appealing option, but we want to make sure you get legitimate information from reputable sources. So, we\u2019ve done &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student\/2026\/10\/27\/ask-a-gp-when-should-i-seek-help-if-ive-been-feeling-low\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Ask a GP: When should I seek help if I&#8217;ve been feeling low?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":4886,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":399,"footnotes":""},"categories":[399],"tags":[438,24,5,385,57,440],"class_list":["post-4852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-and-wellness","tag-ask-a-gp","tag-health","tag-health-and-wellbeing","tag-health-and-wellness","tag-mental-health","tag-wisdom-app"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4852"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4885,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4852\/revisions\/4885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/student\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}