We don’t suffer from depression, we fight it
This school year it’s important to not continue the stigma
My first two years at college were actually kind of shitty because of my disability, and by disability, I mean mental illness. Don’t get me wrong, I love my university. The people I’ve met are great and supportive, but even with those people, one can still feel alone.
During my freshman year, I was determined to not be my shy high school self. I forced myself to be outgoing and talkative, which worked until I got sick. It was just a common cold, but it did more damage than you would think.
I didn’t want to get anyone sick, so I stayed alone. I also lived eight floors away from my friends which caused me to be entirely isolated. I fell into a depressive state where I began to feel crushingly sad out of no where, and would come close to crying just walking to class.
I would stay awake at night and, instead of watching Netflix, would hysterically cry in a state of panic while trying to be as quiet as possible not to disturb anyone. I had no idea why I felt the way I did or why I was doing what I was doing. I know I’m not alone in this feeling, though. Robert Leahy, director of American Institute of Cognitive Therapy, said “the average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950’s.”
This may be the reason new students, especially those who are starting college in a new place, are more prone to depression. The new social environment, tough classes, and big changes in responsibility can contribute to anxiety students may have coming into their new environment. As a result, students might become depressed or increasingly anxious.
Anxiety, as well as depression, is a mental illness. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a whopping one in four students have a diagnosable mental illness. Chances are you know someone who does, but while we stand in plain sight, we don’t announce it.
“The percentage of college students diagnosed or treated by a professional for mental health conditions the past 12 months.” American College Health Association (2012, page 18)
Surprisingly, not a lot of people actually know the definition of mental illness. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mental illness is “health conditions that are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior (or some combination of those) associated with distress and/or impaired functioning.”
The number one reason college students don’t seek help is stigma. However, it is important to remember there is nothing shameful about mental illness.
It’s far more common than people think, and it definitely shouldn’t be so taboo. Schools preach the importance of mental health and make students attend informative seminars, which is a great way to break the ice, but students need to talk about it amongst themselves. Making mental illness a normal topic of conversation breaks the ‘we can’t talk about it’ connotation that stands hand in hand with depression.
It starts with us. The more we talk about it, the more the next generation will feel accepted, and the more older people won’t feel as uncomfortable. The National Alliance of Mental Illness has researched mental illness on college campuses and has found that developing a mental illness is due to many variables, the most predominant being one’s biology and environment.
You can’t blame a specific person or even for yourself for mental illness. It’s an accumulation of everything you’ve experienced and your brain’s chemistry. Holding a grudge against someone won’t help you heal or learn to get over that obstacle, but what can help is therapy.
There are many sources you can go to for help, and therapy is one of them. The common misconception about going to therapy is that there’s something wrong with you and a therapist is supposed to fix that. The reality is that you can go to therapy for any reason, from simple school stress to debilitatingly depression.
“People think you’re weak or damaged if you go to therapy, but what the hell is wrong with going to talk about yourself for an hour a week? It’s not a big deal, it’s scientifically proven to be incredibly helpful, and often it’s the difference between healthy people and those who are dependent on medication or illegal substances to lead their lives,” said junior, Cece Scherman.
A campaign to rethink mental health
“My ex roommates said I had multiple personality disorder, and said they couldn’t see me sad,” said junior, Jessica Citronberg. The roommates moved into a hotel so they wouldn’t have to live with her.
Some people might be scared away from therapy because they don’t know what it would involve. “For me, I used to just go in and tell her about my week, what was happening, how I felt day to day, and if something had gone wrong, we’d focus on it. My therapist didn’t say a lot, as the point was for me to work through my own issues,” said Cece.
Keep in mind that therapy is different for everybody. This approach doesn’t work for me because I end up talking myself into more of a confusion. What helps me understand myself and become more aware is when the therapist asks me questions to try to get to the origin of what caused my troubles.
Therapy is a way to get yourself back on the right path you had to stray from because some sort of obstacle got in your way.
People think mental illness is something that is scary and different from other illnesses, but it’s not. The brain is an organ, and mental illness is just more complicated because the brain is complicated. It’s the brain chemistry and wiring that’s different for each person, and that makes us who we are. It makes us more susceptible to stress or anxiety or being bipolar or depressed.
Therapy has helped me a lot. Even if I don’t come out with some kind of revelation, which most people assume is how it works (it’s not), I come out feeling more at ease, like the weight of the world has lifted from my shoulders a little bit. Talking about what I’ve been through, my relationships, and what’s happened recently with someone totally unbiased, dedicated to help me, and trained to notice things I can’t, has really helped.
Having a social support system is crucial. I had very few close friends my first two years so a lot of times I felt my support system had a gaping hole in it. This summer, though, I got closer with some people and made new friends who I’ll all take back to school with me. You could say I feel more prepared for this upcoming year.
Just remember, we don’t suffer from mental illness, we fight it.