Chronic illness and mental health

Articles on living with a long-term illness, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, sickle cell, HIV or chronic pain, and the toll it can take on your mood. They're for people living with these conditions and the families who care for them.

Low mood often comes with long-term illness. The pain, tiredness, treatment routines, costs and uncertainty add up, and some illnesses and medicines affect mood directly. Depression isn't weakness, and it isn't just part of being ill, yet in Nigerian HIV clinics, for example, it often goes unnoticed. Nigeria has more babies born with sickle cell than any other country, and HIV treatment is free at government health facilities, but the emotional side of both gets far less attention.

Start with chronic illness and depression in Nigeria, then the guide for your condition, such as sickle cell and mental health or diabetes, hypertension and your mood.

Keep your doctor involved, because tiredness, poor sleep and appetite changes can come from the illness itself. Talking therapy can sit alongside medical care, and you can browse licensed therapists on Mytherapist.ng who work with low mood, anxiety and stress.