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Depression

Hi Sam,
for a while now I've been feeling very down and alone. At first I just assumed it was a rough patch and would be over in a couple days but days stretched into weeks and then months and pretty soon I felt a mess. I think I'm fat even though people tell me otherwise. I tried to tell a few people who I thought were my friends that u was depressed and that I self hard which is true. All of them tried there best to help except this one girl who tell people I'm attention seeking and that I'm a liar. It's made me feel worse and now I can't sleep and feel even more alone. What should I do?
Ask Sam

Sam

Hi there,

Depression can make everything feel more difficult. You’ve done well to let your friends know about how you feel. It is very wrong of the girl to call you “attention-seeking” and not treat you with respect. It’s not your fault that she’s reacted in that way.

As well as having friends supporting you, it’s a good idea to get medical support if you think you have depression. That way you can find out about what could help, from a professional who can tell you whether it is depression or not and help you with the right treatment. You can find out more about visiting your doctor here. You might find it helpful to talk to an adult you trust. That way you have somebody to support you when you go to the doctor. 

You mentioned that you self-harm and I’m concerned to hear that you’re going through so much.  If you’d like help for self-harm, you can speak to your doctor about this as well.  You can also check out our page about self-harm and you can talk to a ChildLine counsellor for support.

If you’d like to stop self-harming, you could try distraction techniques, many young people have told me they find these helpful. These are things that you do to take your mind off the urge to self-harm.  What works best as a distraction technique will be different for everyone.

It can sometimes help to write down all of the things you could try so that you can look at your list when you’re thinking about hurting yourself.  If you need ideas for things you could try, take a look at our tips for coping with self-harm.

I’m really glad that you felt able to get in touch and I hope that you get the help you need so life starts to feel better.

Take care,
Sam

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