Thursday 16 August 2012

Depression: "I’ve never seen you without a smile on your face"


I have experienced problems with my mental health, on and off, since early childhood. However, it is only recently that I have felt truly able to discuss these experiences with those closest to me.


In the past, others’ perceptions of me as happy-go-lucky and my own misconceptions about mental illness made me feel uncomfortable about opening up to people.

Somewhere between the ages of 5-10 years old, after a series of stressful events, I started to struggle with anxiety and depression. Convinced I was suffering from an incurable illness, I would spend hours reading the family medical dictionary.

I developed a fear of vomiting which escalated and started to take over my life. As darkness fell in the evenings, my fear would increase. I was unable to sleep properly, scared of being alone with my thoughts.

One persons account of their struggle with coming to terms with and explaining their mental health issues to a largely unaccepting world.  You're not blamed for physical illness, why are you for mental illness?


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