Personal Essay: The Great Depression

The past few years have been really hard for me when it comes to mental health, and I want to share this story hoping it reaches out to someone who doesn’t think they have a voice.

It all started around grade eight, I was this pudgy kid that didn’t really have a lot of friends, but worked really hard in school. The friends I did have were not necessarily popular in any way, but to me they were awesome. Somehow though, I got caught up in rumours and bullying, that’s where things took a turn.

At first I was super happy, I felt safe with who I was around, and that was amazing. But then different people started saying things about my friends and me, and thatś when I started questioning myself. Was I really not a good friend? Was I actually fat? Was I not good enough to be friends with everyone? ‘Apparently not’, I told myself. Each day I would doubt more and more my appearance, my intelligence, everything I was confident in before. My mental health was deteriorating, and I fell into this hole that seemed impossible to get out of. I didn’t want to try in school, I didn’t want to be that friendly person people knew me by. I stopped trying, and no one seemed to notice. The depression I felt towards everything seemed unbearable, or so I thought. …show more content…
I felt that no one could help me, not even someone who went to university and studied the brain and psychological disorders, known as a psychologist. I got out of the lump I was in and went to the school counsellor. I told the lady straight up I didn’t feel right, that I needed help and wouldn’t tell anyone except her. She asked me all these questions that didn’t make sense, but I answered truthfully anyways. This seemed useless to me and the only way for me to find myself happy is to fake it til you make it. But as I went to see the counsellor each and every week for about an hour, the less it surrounded me. The weight bearing down on me felt