I love to read about people who have not backed away from what their brains are trying so hard to deal with. Depression, anxiety, bi-polar disorder, autism it’s all the same. The brain is not functioning the way it’s intended to and for depression and anxiety sufferers especially it’s that blasted negative self talk that leads us down the wrong path. But I believe wholeheartedly that there is hope for everyone. We all need to be open for the concept of letting it go and not being ashamed of what’s going on. If you were having a heart attack you would most certainly go to the hospital right? So, why would you not go seek help if you were having a serious panic attack ….I did. Or if you depression was making you feel like you were sinking? Why do we find it so hard to talk about it? Because it’s our heads and the minute something is not right in our minds we figure no one willl want to listen, no one will care and no one can see it so no one will understand the hardships we are enduring right now. No one can see that back and forth struggle in your mind to convince yourself that if you walk out the door nothing bad will happen.
Thanks to Mental Health Awareness week Bishop Allen Academy’s group Stop the Stigma hosted a seminar on youth mental health, with student organizers Paige McPhee, Marshall Aguda, Isis Gutierrez, and Sarah D’Onofrio. Guest speaker Asante Haughton of the Mood Disorder Association of Ontario, with students Carina Kresic, Nicole Wilk, and Joshua Dhue. This is a must read article because it should inspire everyone to stop the stigma and listen to the most valueable organ in our bodies, “Our Brain”.

Stop the Stigma is a partnership between the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario and the Toronto Catholic District School Board that creates awareness of and provides early intervention for depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety and psychosis among teenagers. Signs and symptoms of the mood disorders typically begin at age 14 or 15, the association reported.

“Ashamed” of his issues, Haughton forewent therapists. Instead, he watched TV’s Dr. Phil.

Only later did he realize battling his issues on his own, without professional help or support, was the wrong choice.

“I didn’t know much about depression and how to deal with it,” he recalled. “I don’t think I even realized I was depressed. I just thought I had low self-esteem. I might not have even gotten better. If I’d gotten help earlier, I might have saved myself years of feeling miserable. But it was the stigma that stopped me.

“I felt meeting my issues would make people not like me. I thought it would make me not like myself. The stigma made me feel ashamed and embarrassed and discriminated against and not as good as other people. Looking back, I wish I’d had something like Stop the Stigma Week at my school. Maybe then I would have felt more comfortable opening up about my issues and getting the help I needed sooner, instead of isolating and trying to do it all myself.”

One in five young people is diagnosed with a mood disorder. Less than two-thirds of them seek help, Mood Disorder Association of Ontario reported. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in 15- to 24-year-olds, the association also reports.

In Grade 12, Haughton won Athlete of the Year. Still depressed, now also feeling social anxiety and fearful of crowds, Haughton wrote his first of three suicide letters. He didn’t take his life, he said, because he couldn’t afford a gun.

Read the article