My story of depression

[Rere]

My name is Serena, I am 17 years old and was diagnosed with depression 2 years ago. It was a hard struggle for me, not having anyone to turn to that understood exactly how I was feeling. My parents tried their best to help me through the depression. I had always felt a huge sense of unwantedness where I was; at school I was bullied, at home I was fighting with my parents. All I wanted was to be dead because I thought that it would be easier if I was gone. I had few friends to turn to that I could talk too about things. People think that depression is a sign of weakness but in reality it's not. Depression affects so many people in so many different ways and a lot of people don't have help and support from friends or family and people don't realise how much something that they say can affect a person. I've been bullied all through my school-life and it used to affect me a lot because people would say all these negative things about me and it hurt because I already had low-self esteem and the bullying only made it worse for me. Not only I was getting bullied but my parents and siblings were always putting me down and I didn't have many friends at the time which left me with no-one to talk too about my problems. This was when I feel into depression with suicidal thoughts, but I thankfully got help and have since recovered from the depression, although at times I do still feel unwanted and down, I know that I am a stronger person now and I don't let people who say negative things about me bring me down. I want depression to something that everyone is aware of and don't think that it's a sign of weakness because I know that it is not. And my heart goes out to all them people who have struggled with depression for years with no-one to talk too that understands you and to the people who still struggle with depression today, you're a stronger person then you think you are!

[AGrace]

Hi Serena,

Thank you for sharing such an inspiring life story with us. I am glad that after seeking support you have made it to recovery. Depression, bullying, and loneliness are difficult to deal with, especially for a teenager.

You mentioned that recovery came about after seeking help. Are you able to share with us any techniques, or coping strategies that worked best for you? What sorts of things do you do now to help you stay well?

I am assuming you have finished school now. What are your plans for the future?

AGrace

[Rere]

Hi AGrace,

I found that talking more about how I was feeling and getting out and about helped me a lot to recover and also writing down my feelings when I was feeling down, that helped a lot too. I still write down thoughts and feelings when I feel like I'm down, as I find it easy to write down my thoughts and feelings in a book than it is to talk about them. I also get out more.

 I haven't quite finished school yet, I've still got about 5 weeks left to go before I'm finished. My plans for the future are to go to TAFE and either study early childhood or psychology to become either a childcare worker or a councillor.

Serena