A Few Notes on Depression and Getting Help

(all statistics in this article can be found here: https://www.menshealthforum.org.uk/key-data-mental-health)

The biggest ‘cause of death of men aged under 45 in the United Kingdom is suicide. A frankly shocking statistic that can be reinforced with many more. It is believed that one man out of eight will be suffering from some form of mental illness which, using statistics from the 2016 census, would total roughly four million people. Men account for 76% of all suicides within the country, but only 36% of referrals to psychiatric treatment were for men. From all of this data we can draw the conclusion that there is perhaps a social stigma that prevents men from recognising mental health issues, or choosing to access mental healthcare services when they are struggling.

This is reinforced with my own experiences with mental illness. I am a 22 year old, English Literature graduate living in South East London. I have been aware of all of these statistics for numerous years and would always encourage my friends to get medical help if they were struggling; I even devoted much of my undergraduate career to research on toxic-masculinity and mental health within modern literature. Yet despite this, I never once considered myself depressed until I was on the brink of killing myself. I suffer from a physical disability called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and whenever that got bad I would always go straight to hospital. When it came to my mental health I let it build up until I could take it no more; to this day I still couldn’t tell you why this was, I can only guess I was scared of how people would react.

But I did get help, and it’s one of the best things I have ever done. In May of this year, I was formally diagnosed with Severe Depression and I’ve been receiving treatment since. Recently a Doctor encouraged me to write about my feelings so that I could better understand them – I’m not there yet unfortunately – instead I would rather talk about my experiences with mental healthcare. Every single doctor or nurse I have discussed my condition with has been patient, kind and empathetic. It wasn’t treated like a weakness as I had feared, but rather something they could help me overcome. I have watched the NHS perform miracles with an incredibly small budget, and I feel morally bound to record this experiences so that it may encourage anyone like me who struggles but is afraid of taking that initial leap.

Going to my GP to discuss mental illness and suicidal thoughts has changed my life.  I can’t pretend, recently I have been feeling a little low and on particularly bad days I’ve blamed my anti-depressants for making me feel worse. But that’s just the depression talking. When I felt like that I went back to my doctor, and when I panicked during the discussions he instead asked about my love of reading – he treated me like a human, rather than a patient to rush out of the door. If you have read this far down and found any of this resonating with you, I beg that you get help. You are not weak for being depressed, and no doctor will treat you as such. In my experience they treated me like an individual, giving me access to tools that may help me in future. In all honesty I still struggle with my mental health every day, but now I’ve got a lot more in my corner to keep me battling on. There’s a wealth of wonderful people out there trained and willing to help you, all you’ve got to do is take that first brave step and get help.

(If you’ve read this blog and would like to reach out for advice, hit me up on the contact page and I will get back to you asap)