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Real Student Stories

Picture of a student Meet Keisha

Picture of Tomas story archive >> '; document.getElementById('storyimage').src='images/anna100.jpg';">

Picture of Anna Growing up as a twin, Keisha struggled to find her own identity and got into the habit of presenting a facade of perfection to hide her depressed feelings. She is starting to learn to open up a bit more to others... more > >

Also in "How Depression Works"...

"I think it would have been very useful to me at that time to have access and communication, such as through a website, to others in a similar situation. In that way I could have perhaps expressed myself in a way which was not self destructive, and would have listened to others' advice as they would have understood me." Safa

"When I missed an exam and failed the course I wasn't in a fit state of mind to tell them I wasn't well, so I had to go through the appeals process. The policies are really easy. I basically recited their policies back at them and they had no choice but to put me back on the course, even against my course director's wishes." Gareth

Students Against Depression
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Why Me?

Bad Person

Not knowing why

Not really knowing why you are feeling low is a frustrating, demoralising (and common) aspect of depression. It is easy to find yourself believing unhelpful, superstitious explanations, which in turn strengthen the hold of depression.

No good reason?

There is not usually a straightforward, single cause for why depression has affected any one person. Quite often it feels as if there is no good reason for it. But this does not mean that it has struck randomly.

Complex, interwoven factors

Vulnerability to depression is usually the outcome of complex, uniquely interwoven factors specific to each person. The factors can be roughly sorted into three categories:

Biological factors, such as genetics, hormones, and changing brain chemistry
Psychological factors, such as unique life story and its effect on personal attitudes and thinking habits
Social factors, such as financial position, social status and isolation from support networks

These factors combine to form a background of different levels of vulnerability to depression for each person.

Triggers

Sometimes, a specific stressful experience, such as a bereavement or new challenge, then strains a person's coping resources so much that depression has a way in. In other cases, there is no obvious trigger and depression sneaks in quietly and reinforces itself without the person realising.

What's your depression story?

You can read about the real experiences of other students on this site. But what’s your story? Read more about each factor to help you think about what might have given depression a way in to your life.

Remember

What initially gave depression a foothold in your life may not be relevant to your life now. This is because once depression gets a foot in the door it works to reinforce a self-perpetuating depression habit spiral.

It's not your fault!

You don’t have to know why depression started in order to tackle it. But having a reasonable explanation helps to resist unhelpful, depression-inducing explanations. It can also help in deciding what strategies might be most effective for tackling depression and moving forward.

Easier with help

Working out your own depression story in detail is often easier with the help of a trained professional, like a counsellor. This case example using Anna's story shows the framework a counsellor might use to help someone work out their story and start to tackle depression.

the depression habit spiral > >

Links

More about other students’ life stories: real student stories
More about how depression works: the depression habit spiral , depressed thinking , stress, anxiety & anger
More about tackling depression
More about forms of help: talking to someone , what do counsellors offer? , what do doctors offer?

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