Helping a friend with mental health problems like depression I
was diagnosed in 2008 with depression and anxiety. Suddenly, the
rumble of feelings that had been gradually affecting my life
more and more had a label and I was given something concrete to
tell my friends and teachers, which explained why I hadn’t "been
myself lately." For all the relief of facing treatment, it was a
fairly daunting thing. I started by telling someone who I
trusted deeply because I wasn’t too sure what it all meant
myself and, just like me, she didn’t get it. The essential thing
was, though, that she was there; giving me time to cry and time
to talk, without making any comment, but offering her care and a
hug. That was enough. Other friends weren’t so understanding. I
found it monstrously frustrating trying to open up to someone
who would turn around and say, “yeah me too,” or start talking
about themselves, when I needed only comfort, not comparison.
With time I began to realise that people don’t have much of a
vocabulary for me