“You’ve got this.”

Share your stigma experience.

I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder at fourteen and then depression at fifteen. When I first told my friends they were very supportive but when things got worse…things changed. I was excluded, a lot. No one wanted to trigger me into another suicide attempt but they also didn’t want to be around me. I felt so incredibly alone, getting so overwhelmed and low over a tiny thing like someone not replying to me was completely abnormal. I tried to tell my ‘friends’ how I felt through jokes which they did not take well. They didn’t understand that it could be used as a coping mechanism which only made me feel more alone. This was when I left school which was the best decision I’ve ever made. I know there is a phrase, something like “you find out who your real friends are when you really go through something” and I never understood that until I got diagnosed. I felt so guilty to put my ‘friends’ through being friends with me that when they left I truly thought it was MY fault and that I deserved being isolated.

How did you overcome this experience?

Time. It takes time to forgive, to get over, to understand that those people were not the best people for me. Now from going through that I truly think it did me more good than bad.

Help others by sharing a brief, positive message.

When you’re in that isolating, depressive state it feels like you’ll never get out and no matter what people say. I know I never believed I’d get better but from someone who’s been through it – I PROMISE it will get better. You’ve got this.