Real life stories
Read on to find out what this young person's experience of depression....
Sarah Jane’s case study
Sarah Jane was diagnosed with mild depression a month before her 18th birthday and 4 months before her final school exams. A bright, bubbly and popular student, she had become really anxious over the previous months, worried about everything and cried a lot. She was also having problems in her relationships, both boyfriend and girlfriends. Her mum was just recovering from a severe bout of depression and had been off work for a while. Sarah Jane didn’t tell anyone just how worried she was about her.
She started a special kind of talking therapy called cognitive therapy and that helped over the next few months. However, her exams were really stressful for her as she hadn’t been able to concentrate on her study or revision. A couple of weeks after her exams were over, her mum thought she was getting worse and after taking advice from Aware, asked her if she’d been thinking of suicide. Sarah Jane had been having thoughts like this and was scared and upset. They went back to the doctor and he gave her anti-depressants to lift her mood.
After just 6 weeks, she was able to enjoy a family holiday and a month later started college studying sport science. She lived away from home, held down a part time job and at the end of first year went with Camp America to Florida where she taught pony riding to children for the summer.
Since then, she has travelled Australia and spent time in South Africa and Germany working with horses. She is now 26, has a degree in Equine Management and is an amateur jockey. She works as an Equine Retail Specialist in Co Louth and loves life.
If you have a story you would like to share about your experience of depression, the help you received, and think it might help another young person, why not send contact us here. We won't share your personal details with anyone.