Patients at the University Clinic for Psychiatry: "It's hard to live with depression"

The University Clinic for Psychiatry released anonymous messages from patients to mark World Mental Health Day on October 10, presenting personal testimonies that organisers say should prompt more understanding and less stigma.

Several short statements collected from patients underline the lived hardship of mental illness: "Mental health problems are just as real as any other health problems," "It is hard to live with depression," "No matter how stable I appear, or how stable I seem, inside nothing has changed," and simply, "I have an illness."

Patients also expressed hopes and basic wishes: "To be healthy and normal," "For others to understand me," and "For mental illnesses to be accepted." Clinic staff say the testimonies were provided anonymously so that patients could describe their feelings, struggles and wishes without fear.

Campaign aims to make experience count

The campaign, which the University Clinic for Psychiatry will continue in the period ahead, intends to highlight that people who live or have lived with mental difficulties should not only be heard but that their experiences must be recognised as a valid form of knowledge and insight. The clinic emphasised that, as depression, anxiety and other mental health problems are on the rise, it is crucial to break stigma and send the message that asking for help is not a sign of weakness.

"In that way the message is sent that you are not alone and not the only one. Very often people who suffer any affliction, whether physical or psychological, their first feeling is fear and the question whether this is happening only to me, whether I am the only person in the world who has such difficulties? Therefore, it is very important to hear someone who has gone through the same or has a similar life path," says Prof. Dr. Slavica Arsova, director of the University Clinic for Psychiatry.

Prof. Dr. Arsova added that the goal of health workers is to avoid stigmatizing people and to prevent giving them the impression they are different from others. "We are all different in our characteristics and in our psychological condition, but that does not make us less valuable than others. Any person during their life may come to a point where they need to ask for help, because simply we cannot cope with everything ourselves. And that is not shame, on the contrary, it represents greatness and maturity," she said.

Photo: press material from the event