Trigger warning: This post contains references to depression and attempted suicide. You may find this triggering if you have personal experience of such subjects. Dear Lucy I know that this is the most traumatic year of your life. I know that you’re broken. And you’re looking for a way to mend yourself. But there doesn’t seem to be a solution. The pain and depression are too intense. The hole is too deep. Nothing can fill it. You feel like you’re…
Deciding to have children is a tough decision at the best of times. Deciding to start a family when you have chronic depression and anxiety, and take regular medication is another thing altogether. Years ago, I read an article in The Guardian that discusses the July 2014 guidelines that were issued to GPs by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE). These guidelines give doctors advice on how they should treat female patients who suffer from depression. In particular, it recommends that…
I often believe that people who suffer with mental health problems get a raw deal. They are considered sad individuals who can barely crack a smile. That they aren’t able to feel happiness or joy. This is untrue. I can feel great happiness and joy. I can feel the excited happiness that comes when you dance around the room to your favourite song. The happiness that comes from chatting with your best friends. I know the contented happiness that comes…
TRIGGER WARNING: This post deals with depression and mentions self-harm. Depression And University Life My Degree I studied Classical Civilisation and Ancient History at university. And during my study I became drawn to Greek Tragedy. I loved the complex stories filled with bold female characters who committed hideous atrocities because of some fatal flaw. And during those years at university, I often felt like I had changed into one of those characters. That I was ever so carefully destroying myself…
Trigger warning: this post mentions depression, anxiety, taking antidepressants, self-harm and attempted suicide. If you have personal experience of any of these then you may find this post distressing. Next year will be the twentieth anniversary of my diagnosis of depression. It will also mark almost twenty years of taking antidepressants. That is huge! It means that I’ve suffered from depression for the majority of my adult life. If you’ve read this blog before then you’ll know that I’m very…
Trigger warning: If you have personal experience of suicide or suicidal depression then you may find this post upsetting. If you’re currently struggling with suicidal thoughts and you’re in danger then please call 999 and request an ambulance immediately. My dear girl As I write this letter to you, I have tears pricking the back of my eyes. My heart hurts thinking of you lying in that hospital bed. Because last night you took an overdose. It was your fourth.…