Talking To Someone

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:

1. Family - help them help you by showing them this website or printing off the worried about someone else? page for them.
2. 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).
3. Anonymous listening - phone the Samaritans or the student Nightline.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Professionals such as counsellors, doctors or mental health services are trained to offer appropriate help, advice and treatment.
7. Write it down - even if you don't ever show it to anyone, writing things down (eg. keeping a diary) can be very therapeutic.

Go for it!

• Decide who is the best person for you to talk to first.
• Be realistic about what each person can offer.
• If it doesn't work out, try someone else.
• Talk to more than one person.

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