health

For anyone who is struggling with depression: this is your digital care package.

Content warning: This article contains issues relating to mental health, mental illness and suicide. We urge you to contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit this website for urgent assistance.

The internet is a dark and confronting place, at the best of times.

That is only amplified when you, or someone you know, is dealing with mental health issues or mental illness. You are seeking answers, someone to connect to, or a person’s story that has you thinking, “This is me”.

At Mamamia, every week we produce content that shares the stories and experiences of people who have been impacted by mental illness.

Instead of trying to Google your way to help, we have put together this hub of the most important and impactful content we have created on mental illness. You can come here to read, to listen, and to watch the stories that have made us cry, learn, and most importantly, feel like we can do it. Because we can.

Articles

The nine depression symptoms nobody ever talks about. 

Most people understand depression to be synonymous with sadness. Yet depression is a characteristically private battle that, unless one has experienced or witnessed it personally, is unimaginable.

The nine depression symptoms nobody ever talks about.

“I lost my Dad to suicide one year ago. This is what I wish I could say to him.”

The world after losing someone you love to suicide is a scary place. It loses its innocence, you confront an existential reality, and, if you’d been struggling to find purpose before, you question the purpose of life even more.

Despite Gabby’s Dad’s early mantra — “You’re okay, you’re okay, no blood” — there can still be immense pain without any visual signs. We need to educate ourselves to learn about mental illness, learn to recognise the signs, remove the shame and the stigma and use our power as a generation that can break the cycle.

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“I lost my Dad to suicide one year ago. This is what I wish I could say to him.”

Eight things no one tells you about antidepressants. 

Four years ago, Jessie Stephens was prescribed antidepressants during a crippling bout of depression and anxiety.

She is now able to live her life without being barricaded by sadness or anxiety, but ultimately, it is the choice of the individual to use or not use medication. This is what someone could be signing up for.

Eight things no one tells you about antidepressants.

Four books you must read if you’ve ever experienced, or want to better understand, mental illness.

Books can change lives, or provide a vocabulary for a particular kind of experience that was previously unexplainable. They can also powerfully remind us that we’re never really alone.

So to anyone who wants to better understand mental illness, or is struggling with their own, here are the books you absolutely must read.

Four books you must read if you’ve ever experienced, or want to better understand, mental illness.

“Two years ago I was seconds from jumping off the Sydney Harbour Bridge.”

Just over two years ago, on the 4th of December 2014, Dan Price was spotted by a security guard walking ‘heel-to-toe’ along a thin piece of railing outside the safety fence on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Dan wrote about his experience with anxiety and depression.

“I feel very lucky and grateful still be alive having survived a horrendously painful, lonely period of darkness leading to suicidal thoughts and hospitalisation on more than one occasion.”

“Two years ago I was seconds from jumping off the Sydney Harbour Bridge.”

Video

How to know if you should see a psychologist for your health.

 

VIDEO: Men open up about why they don’t talk about their feelings.

VIDEO: Adam Schwartz on how he survived his chronic depression from age 10.

 

VIDEO: How do you tell the difference between feeling sad and clinically depressed?

VIDEO: When was the last time you just cared for yourself?

If this post brings up issues for you, or you just need someone to talk to, please call Lifeline on 131 114. You can also visit the Lifeline website here and the Beyond Blue website here.

Griefline also provides free telephone and online counselling support services to people dealing with mental health issues, suicide, carer support, terminal illness, unemployment, and more.

National: 1300 845 745 (from landlines)

National: (03) 9935 7400 (from mobiles)