by Edna in Tennessee
My name is Edna. I am a 47-year old single mother. My two children are grown, but have lived a life of confusion with my illnesses. I was a happy child, with a good life. However, in my teen years I started having bouts of sadness, depression, anxiety, and loneliness...even though I had a large family and many friends.
by Cierra in Colorado
I have been fearful, sad, and anxious as far back into my life as I can remember. It created social problems, family problems, and isolation/loneliness. The first time I started thinking about suicide, I was 10 years old. I didn't know anyone in the whole world that felt that way.
by Renee in Pennsylvania
My search for the meaning of life began at the age of 14 when drugs and alcohol became a way of life for me to cope with the years of abuse and the nightmarish memories of my past. I became a high school drop-out and ran away from home, looking for love in all the wrong places. I had been consumed body, soul and spirit by overexposure to alcohol, drugs and sexual abuse by the time I was 17.
by Jamie in Tennessee
I'm not sure when it all started, but I think I've always dealt with depression. I just didn't always understand it. The first memory I have of it was when I was six and my grandfather died. I remember trying to hide my feelings because I thought I felt different than everyone else. I wouldn't even cry. Everyone thought I was too young for it to bother me, so I didn't let them know it did. I was always socially withdrawn because we moved around a lot, so I didn't have any friends except my sisters and brother. When I was seven, my oldest sister (who is 10 years older than me) started to molest me.
by Amy in Kentucky
I was diagnosed with severe depression at the age of 17. I can remember the day I was admitted into the hospital as if it were yesterday. It was 1992 and in hindsight it had been a downward spiral for me for a very long time! My mother at the time was married to my stepfather who had emotionally, and at times, physically abused me. My mother was mostly absent at home as she was pursuing her master's degree at night and worked full time during the day.
by Anna in Minnesota
Hi my name is Anna. I have struggled with clinical depression for about a good 20 years now. It seems to be getting worse. I don't like being around people at all. I am so edgy just thinking about it, but when I am at work I just fall into the pattern of work and I am fine.
by Michael in Michigan
I think I was just a boy when I started suffering from depression. There was a sense of hopelessness and I asked God to save me and my family from my Dad, but all I ever got was voice mails. When you're so young and don't have a clue where to get any help, you just learn to cope or accept what is going on around you. After a while depression hits very hard and actions and consequences blend and really don't mean much, so you start to use drugs to plug holes and gaps in your life followed by negative police associations which becomes normal.
by Marsha in Kansas
When I started my downward spiral after hospitalization, I was asked to quit my trade school classes and take a break from the stress of it all. It was a nice way of saying we don't want you to come back. I couldn't handle the stress of marriage so I divorced my second husband. He got main custody of my daughter but I got half custody of her during her last year of school. She came to live with me full-time.
by Florence in Arizona
I was shy all through school until high school when I started drinking and partying with friends. That was the only way I would come out of my shell. I ran away from home at 16 because my dad was very strict and would not let me go anywhere, which left me home to take care of my other three siblings a lot. I ended up pregnant at 17 and all alone because the baby's father went to prison.
by Rayelle in Minnesota
My mental illness has affected my life since I was around five years old. I grew up in a very violent and abusive home in Minnesota, as have a lot of my mentally ill friends. I have five siblings who grew up there with me and we all suffered the wrath of alcoholic parents who used us as punching bags. I was beaten regularly and even have memories of a sibling that was murdered in our kitchen, but no one ever talks about it or acknowledges it even happened. That caused a lot of anger and rage towards most of my direct family members, and I have cut most of them completely out of my life. That, I believe, was the healthiest thing I have ever done.
