Surviving childhood depression
Depression is an illness. A terrible, debilitating, life threatening illness. It sucks all joy from your life. It leaves you anxious, afraid and empty. When you are depressed, your mind won’t shut down. It is on a constant cycle of worrying. You worry about everything. You cannot stop worrying, no matter how hard you try. …
Over the last year, I’ve learned a huge amount about mental illness in general, and childhood depression in particular. I’m not an expert, but I know a hell of a lot more than I did before my daughter’s illness. In a recent post, I listed the top five things I’ve learned about supporting a child …
It’s almost a year since Nora’s illness started to manifest itself. Since then, many people – some who’ve never met my daughter – have offered their opinions on what might have ‘caused’ her catastrophic mental breakdown. I’ve blogged before about people’s need to find reasons for mental illness. The problem is, mental health is a complicated …
I’ve been slightly overwhelmed recently by the number of people I’ve met – online and in person – caring for someone with mental health problems. These conversations have made me realise that I know quite a bit more about anxiety and depression than I did nine months ago, when Nora first became ill. So, today’s …
As the parent of a severely depressed child, I applaud the growing awareness of mental health problems in young people. Knowledge is power, after all. The more parents know about mental health problems, the better equipped we are to intervene early. Understanding the causes and symptoms of mental illness could – potentially – help us …
