I think I’ve shown traits of both OCD and GAD since a very young age, which have gradually increased as I got older. On New Years Eve 2013 I lost my father. We have a family business and to go from working for your father to then having to maintain a business, all while dealing with your grief, was for me extremely traumatic.
I work in a large factory, so I meet a lot of people with very different attitudes and opinions about mental health. I was diagnosed with severe depression just over 8 years ago. At that time I had a few months off work, had counselling and went on to medication. My employers were good and understanding. But the people I work with are a different matter.
I don’t advertise that I have depression but I make no secret of it. If someone wants to talk to me about it, I will talk. And a few people have genuinely been interested.
So here I am, at the end of a whirlwind of an incredible but tough journey. It has taken me over a year to accept that I have Generalised Anxiety Disorder and that I also have an eating disorder. Well actually I’m in recovery for an eating disorder. Thanks to a person-centred service, I now have the strategies and the ability to cope with life.
I was starting my first year of University and I thought it was going to be a fresh start to my life. It wasn’t like that. My past problems followed me and continue to overtake and confuse me. I was unhappy most of the time, and when I thought things were going well, another obstacle threw me off the rails of happiness.
Once I was told that I have borderline personality disorder (BPD), everything clicked into place, as if it was the missing piece of the puzzle as to why I acted the way I did with my mental health.
