\n Aaron, 40, from Bury, shared how support from NHS Bury Talking Therapies helped him after struggling with emotional issues that left him feeling lost, angry, and isolated.\n<\/p>\n
\n The dad-of-three said he reached a breaking point after battling anxiety, anger, and paranoia\u2014feeling ‘completely scattered’.\n<\/p>\n
\n Aaron said: “I was angry with life and angry with everyone and everything.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Nobody wanted to be around me because I was no fun to talk to.\n<\/p>\n
\n “They\u2019d ask what was wrong \u2013 but I didn\u2019t know.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Noreen Iqbal (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n
\n Aaron said he eventually referred himself to the service, run by Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, in a bid to save his relationship and improve life for his family.\n<\/p>\n
\n He began weekly cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) sessions, delivered by phone and video call.\n<\/p>\n
\n During therapy, his therapist Noreen Iqbal helped him explore long-standing issues around low self-worth, obsessive-compulsive behaviours, and body dysmorphia.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: “It went in one ear and out the other.\n<\/p>\n
\n “No matter what I heard, I never believed I was good enough for those around me.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I\u2019d be worried about what I looked like and never felt like I was attractive.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Ms Iqbal, a registered mental health nurse and CBT therapist, said: “By discovering the root cause of his issues, we could then develop the right coping mechanisms to allow him to improve his life.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Aaron wanted to work on his anger management, but we soon identified that he was highly anxious.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Through CBT, Aaron began setting small challenges to break unhelpful routines and test his beliefs.\n<\/p>\n
\n Aaron\u00a0said: “She challenged me each week by asking me to do something differently.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I delayed things like my weekly haircut, which meant a lot to me as it made me feel that I looked a certain way that I was happy with.\n<\/p>\n
\n “In the end I managed to push it back for three weeks\u2014something that really pushed me out of my comfort zone.\n<\/p>\n
\n READ MORE:\n<\/p>\n
\n “But I did it, and I could see the difference.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It became clear to me that I could take control of my situation and feelings.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Aaron says he now feels like a “totally different person.”\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: “I\u2019m more confident, doing well at work, and really enjoy being around my family.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aaron, 40, from Bury, shared how support from NHS Bury Talking Therapies helped him after struggling with emotional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-109885","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}