Amy Baker*, from Glasgow was diagnosed with depression when she was 21 years old. For her, like many others, it came very suddenly with a roaring force. She says: “For me it was really sudden. I had a really bad break-up with a boyfriend and it was off the back of that. He was just a really horrible person and made me feel really bad about myself. As a result of some of the things he said to me, he made me think I was a bad person. I overdosed on vodka and paracetomal in the toilets in Buchanan Galleries because I thought everyone would be better off without me.”
After her overdose, Amy says she knew she needed help. 2 days after the incident Amy finally had the courage to tell her parents about her overdose. She was then referred to a university councillor and was given a course of anti-depressants by her doctor. However, for Amy this was not to be a one-time occurrence. Little did she know this would have a bigger impact on her life than she could even have imagine.
She adds: “I thought it had run its course so I stopped going to counselling but then a few months later it came back. I thought maybe the anti-depressants weren’t working so the dosage got increased. I have recurring depression and it got to a point that when I broke up with my last boyfriend it caused a lot of problems so I went to Private Counselling for 6 months. That really helped.”