Having anxiety problems and depression had a very, very powerful effect on my life. Probably the first eighteen, nineteen years of my life, the main effect was psychological, I think. I probably held myself back at school and socially, because I didn’t have much respect, didn’t think much of myself because I was very depressed. I was also very tired a lot of the time, so it meant that I wasn’t actually able to do that many activities, but at the same time I didn’t sleep particularly well, so it just made me even more tired. The knock-on effects were at school, I struggled because I was always tired, and perhaps didn’t work as hard as I could have, because I didn’t have very high expectations. Turning point was being diagnosed, then I started to put the pieces together, as I said earlier. Once you work that you’re having depression because of seizures – it’s not something that necessarily a permanent part of your personality, and if that’s the case then it’s possible to stop being that way. And if you get that view, that positive view, then you’re more likely to try and change things. And I did.
