Young Reporters: “It’s just depression, get over it.”- By Orisa Thandi, Waldegrave School

Imagine a loved one had just been diagnosed with cancer. How would you feel? Would you support them to the core, be there every step of the way and help them onto recovery? You would never dream of saying “It’s just cancer, get over it”.

So why do people say that about mental health?

Just because it is not visible physically, it does not mean that mental health is any less important.  According to Young Minds, 1 in 10 children and young people aged 5 - 16 suffer from a diagnosable mental health disorder - that is around three children in every class. Even more worryingly, over 8,000 children aged under 10 years old suffer from severe depression, and between 1 in every 12 and 1 in 15 children and young people deliberately self-harm.

So why is there still such a stigma regarding mental health? Is it still a taboo subject in society- something awkward and terrible that can never be mentioned, something that has to be brushed under the rug? Or is it the terminology surrounding the topic- the talk of anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorders… The list goes on and on.

Because of the stigma surrounding it, many people are afraid and unsure as to whether they should speak out. As someone who deals with mental issues myself (as we all do), I know that I was initially unsure about how I was feeling- I was afraid that I was completely alone, and that no-one, not even people I trusted and loved, would understand me. I also felt scared, because I felt like I had to hide these feelings from my loved ones, and even my closest friends. At the worst times, when I couldn’t face the thought of starting the day, I thoguht that there was no way I could call the school to say that I couldn’t come in- because I thought that people did not accept ‘anxiety and depression’ as a form of illness (of feeling sick).

Thankfully, there are people out there who recognise it for what it is- I found help through talking with my school, and my family and friends. With campaigns such as It’s Time to Talk reaching out to people with different types of mental issues, and more and more counselling sessions opening locally, now truly is the time for change.

In Twickenham, there is a counselling service known as Off the Record. They deal with all types of issues, including problems surrounding personal mental health (such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders and self-harm). Feedback from counselling has been described as ‘a place where you can easily describe how you feel, with a laid-back atmosphere. It is good to talk to someone who doesn’t judge you’.

This proves that talking is the solution to ‘curing’ mental health issues. If everyone shifted their perspective slightly, and looked at life from a different view, things would be much simpler. People would try to understand each other, and the heavy stigma so many people are under would be lifted. If we all engage in this topic, if we welcome it and analyse it and interpret it, we will find that the issues become less and less. The sooner we talk, the sooner we can begin to cure mental illness.

It may not have clear symptoms, or a physical appearance, but it is real. It is a form of being ill, it is the feeling of being sick. And we should treat it as such.