Real Student Stories

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Picture of Anna Body images issues and her sister's serious mental health problems led to food problems and depression from Anala's early teens. She resisted taking medication and has only recently started to seek help... more > >

Also in "Getting Support & Help"...

"There's an analogy that I find useful: Your brain is like a donkey - the more bags you put on it, the more chance there is of it lying down and refusing to move. Sometimes you just have to take some bags off by telling someone." Gareth

"For me, there's nothing wrong with suffering from depression. I think it's far better to admit you've got a problem and go and speak to someone." Mike

"Sometimes I'd ring the Samaritans just to have someone to talk to, which didn't always help, but sometimes it did. Sometimes it helped to talk and sound off for a couple of hours. I've often found that explaining my whole situation from the start was quite a good way because if I was talking about it, I wasn't thinking about it so much. It didn't always make me feel better at the end of it, but it made me feel better while I was talking about it." Ben

Students Against Depression
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Talking To Someone

Talk

How does talking to someone help?

Unburdening yourself
It can be a great relief to get things off your chest. For some people it helps a lot if they know things will be kept confidential (eg. talking to a professional).
Getting perspective
Voicing thoughts or fears is very useful in making sense of them and putting them into perspective.
Easing isolation
Dropping the mask, being honest and connecting with someone else on a real level helps to counter the isolating effect of depression.
Care and compassion
If you choose well who to talk to, you are much more likely to be offered care and compassion than the rejection or ridicule you may fear.
Useful advice
Depending on who you talk to, you may get some useful help or advice in return - and even if some of it isn't useful, remember you don't have to take it!
Strategies and ways forward
Talking and openness shines a bright light onto depression's distortions and lies. As you talk, you start to develop understanding and strategies for tackling depression.
Support network
Different people offer different kinds of support, so talking to different people can help build up a useful support network.

Ideas for who to talk to:

Family - help them help you by showing them this website or printing off the worried about someone else? page for them.
Friends or other students - friends and other students can be very supportive, but be realistic about what they can and can't do (see peer support page for ideas).
Anonymous listening - phone the Samaritans or the student Nightline.
Others with similar experiences - see the other useful websites page for ways to contact other students through student mental health message boards, or to find contacts through the Depression Alliance.
Personal tutor - most academic departments arrange systems for tutors to offer personal academic support; you don't have to give details if you don't want to.
Professionals such as counsellors, doctors or mental health services are trained to offer appropriate help, advice and treatment.
Write it down - even if you don't ever show it to anyone, writing things down (eg. keeping a diary) can be very therapeutic.