Resources

This page is split into two halves:

(1) A mental health resources data bank with information specific to one's location or specific life situation and

(2) General resources for mental health that could apply to anyone

 
 
 

Mental health resources by location and specialty

A note on finding help via this table

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For those who may not be familiar with AirTable, the filter function can seem unintuitive to use, but it actually is a very useful tool for finding providers who meet your criteria! Just click on "Filter" and select "Add condition" to apply your criteria. Multiple conditions can be added at the same time by adding more with "Add condition". "Add condition group" can be used to filter by "and" or "or". Scroll to the right in the table to view all of its columns.

General resources for mental health

For mental health providers seeing Effect Altruism community members

Julia Wise and Damon Sasi have put together a resource for mental health providers who are seeing a patient who is involved in the Effective Altruism community and aren't sure whether the person's Effective Altruism involvement is part of a mental health problem.

 

Finding care

 

Crisis support

Crisis support phone lines and text lines (we're currently expanding this list to include all countries)

 

Therapy Route has provided an article that lists helplines, crisis lines, and suicide hotlines for 176 countries (so nearly every country in the world). Its last update was January 2, 2020. Command+F to search the page for your respective country. Or, check out this Wikipedia article listing suicide crisis lines, which lists resources in 93 countries.

 

Specific conditions / situations

Guides from Dr. Scott Siskind​: The Lorien Psychiatry Database provides an overview of different mental health conditions, medications, supplements, and lifestyle suggestions.

 

Helpful lists

 

The Mental Health Foundation (UK) has published a guide on managing and reducing stress.

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This mental illness guide by Drugwatch provides succinct descriptions of various mental illnesses, warning signs, treatments, and the side effects of some of drugs used as treatment.

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Those who have been in car accidents and are potentially experiencing PTSD might find this guide to PTSD and Car Accidents helpful.

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For university students

The EA Off-Roads project was set up by Gavin Leech and Damon Sasi to help people experiencing executive dysfunction and struggling at university. 

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Trouble sleeping or getting good quality sleep

Check out this list of tips for sleep put together by Emily Jennings and this Guide to good sleep whilst working from home by sleep medicine specialist Dimitri Gavriloff.

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Long COVID

There is currently a lack of research on self-management practices for those who experience long COVID. As of January 22, 2022, the Therapies for Long COVID (TLC) Study (ISRCTN15674970) sets out to remedy this issue through conducting a survey among people who are experiencing long covid. For information on dealing with the effects of long COVID on one's mental health, check out this guide provided by Rethink Mental Illness.


​Books and written resources 

Ewelina Tur's list of workbooks and self-help books

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Support groups

The EA CoWorking Discord Server

EA Peer Support Facebook Group

 

Talks, podcasts, and posts by Effective Altruism community members on mental health

 

Mental Health Resources tailored for EAs (WIP) by Miranda Zhang provides a personal account and description of resources such as:

 

Burnout: what it is and how to treat it by Elizabeth is not only a very helpful post about what burnout is and what to do about it, but is also a helpful read for the comment threads, which contain other EA community members' personal realizations about and methods for preventing or treating burnout.

 

Mental Health and the Alignment Problem: A Compilation of Resources by Chris Scammell is a compilation of a lot of great resources  for anyone concerned with maintaining well-being when confronted with existential risk.

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Ben Williamson is currently piloting Effective Self-Help (ESH), which is currently a series of articles he will be releasing over the course of the next few months. The first articles in the series are on effective ways to improve sleep and reduce stress. ESH is something Ben intends to develop into a resource for the best guidance for individuals on improving wellbeing and productivity. 

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A Mental Health Podcast Directory (created by Ben Williamson) loosely based on the most common mental health conditions EA community members experience according to the results of the 2018 EA Mental Health Survey. 

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Other EA Forum posts tagged self-care might be helpful and are available here. 

 

Check out the EAxPsychology website for all kinds of resources on the intersection of psychology and Effective Altruism.