Elsha's story

My life up until secondary school had been fairly uneventful in regards to traumatic events.  Living in a country town on a property meant that we were fairly sheltered from the world around us.

When I got to secondary school my life, as it had been, changed rather drastically.  My nanna passed away after a long battle with cancer.  Later that year my parents separated as my Dad had an affair.  My Mum and sister and I moved, and my sister and I moved schools.  All of those events occurred in a very short period of time leaving me feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope and with so many mixed feelings.

My Mum noticed how down and fatigued I was and took me to our GP.  It was then that I was diagnosed with depression.  I was so confused as to what to feel.  I was relieved to know why I had been feeling the way I had, but I was also scared that people would label me as crazy or different.

I went to several clinicians, whom I felt didn't really listen or understand where I was coming from.  I eventually found one that I was comfortable with and was empathic to my thoughts and feelings.  He helped me confront the hurt and anger I was experiencing, and taught me to think in a more positive manner, using affirmations when I felt really down.  I would tell myself that despite feeling down, I had felt this way before and I got through it.  I was a matter of taking one step forward and three back but just reminding myself that I would survive.

The worst thing about having depression was the constant sadness I felt, sometimes for no particular reason at all, which left me feeling helpless and out of control.

I experienced a lot of anxiety which led to panic attacks which made me feel like I was having a heart attack.  My life was always on edge, like something was always behind me and I was running away from it always knowing it was eventually going to catch up with me and something terrible was going to happen. 

Unfortunately I was unable to stay at school, and thus felt even more isolated and alone.

A major venture I have recently become involved with is launching the Dr Link campaign with other dedicated people, to help increase community awareness of depression.  That will hopefully let other young people suffering from depression know they are not alone and that there is great help out there.

The community at large don't seem to know the difference between feeling sad - which of course is normal - and clinical depression, which we know isn't.  This is because sadness only lasts minutes, hours or days. Depression seems to go on forever - like a pervasive and relentless sense of despair.

Since I have recovered I have completed a diploma in counselling in the hope of helping other young people overcome the battle with depression.