More stories

Some of the other submitted contributions are summarised below...

• One student at times feels very pessimistic and lethargic, finding it hard to concentrate or find motivation for anything. Then at other times he feels near ecstasy, but at the same time uneasy and restless. He finds beings in a group of close friends helpful.


• Another student related becoming depressed after experiencing harassment by a university maintenance employee which was not dealt with by the university authorities, resulting in the student eventually dropping out of university with extensive debt.


• A 16 year-old high school student reported being depressed about his studies, feeling that despite studying a lot he wasn't achieving high enough grades. He found he was being distracted by computer games, TV and his friends.


• Someone who had suffered the loss of his mother and estrangement from his father wrote about the great anguish and despair he had felt over a year of suicide contemplation.


• An A-level student had been so caught up with helping two troubled friends that she didn't realise how low she had got herself. She felt constantly tired, fragile and emotionally weak, lost her confidence, and found herself self-harming. She wishes she had asked for professional help, but eventually her achievements on an expedition to South America helped her regain motivation for life.


• A Dutch-born site user, born and bred in the Netherlands but with Sudanese parents, felt depressed and that she needed an older female to talk to who would understand western culture and society, unlike her mother who she felt would never accept or understand her problems. She was directed to the SAD site by someone in an internet forum and recommends this way of finding help and support from real people.