The energies of the ground state and of the first three S-1 excited states of helium-like atoms with 2 less than or equal to Z less than or equal to 10 have been calculated under plasma-type confinement. The effect of the confinement has been described by the Debye screening potential. The energy levels show interesting behaviour under increased plasma strength, which is in conformity with recent experimental observations of the change in spectra of an impurity atom in liquid helium. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.