The biggest thing with mental health issues is we don’t talk about them enough. As with anything, the more people talk about them and normalise them – the less of a stigma there is. The only downside is, sometimes the issues involved are very personal. 

I decided to start this biog with my name attached, not hiding behind any pseudonym mainly as the areas I was touching on were at the time not very sensitive – just my observations and feelings about life and what it threw at me. But as I’ve moved on and want to talk more about my experience with anxiety and depression I’m conscious that family and friends, however indirectly, will come up. It may not be a specific mention, but just by a vague description of my experiences will lend itself to a hint. 

So the big decision now is whether to touch on these areas. I do not want to cause any pain or hurt for things that have happened in the past. At the same time, these experiences have shaped who I am and potentially what I am learning about myself now. 

There is always the option to not share links to these particular post on my facebook or twitter accounts, but there is the chance they will come across them anyway. There is even the chance someone reading my post may see themselves in it when the experience I am relaying touches on someone totally different.

All I can say is that anything I write is not with malice – I am just talking about my own experiences in the hope that it will help others to understand what they are thinking/feeling and help stop people being shamed for having mental health issues.