We have interviewed 42 people who have overcome struggles with the help of social support from others. These stories show that friends, family and colleagues are vital to overcoming struggles of mental health.
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I’ve interviewed 42 people who have been helped by support of others, and here are the top 5 struggles that these people have overcome:
In our many years of publishing helpful mental health content, we always received questions from our readers about specific situations. While we have a lot of helpful tips to share on how to be happier, we simply can’t offer advice for every situation.
That’s why I’ve set out to interview folks with every type of mental health struggle. My job as an interviewer is to categorize these interviews and present them in a way that is most helpful to our readers.
“After a very emotionally taxing month for me and my fiance, I had an actual mental breakdown. Unable to stop crying, I voluntarily admitted myself to my local psych ward and stayed for a couple of days, ultimately being released after assessment. I realized that I didn’t want to die, I just didn’t want to feel the way I was feeling.”
“Don’t hate yourself for the trauma. The path to happiness is not a single one. There are many ways to be happy so the impossibility to turn back time before trauma does not mean you can never be happy. You can be happy again. You can trust others again. Don’t lose your hope to survive. Someday, you will be thankful for your past self who did not give up your life.”
“Now, we can identify our emotions easily, we don’t get attacks of emotion so overwhelming we just have to pause the world. We do have feelings that creep up and we do still have some things to work over, but also some of that is caused by the emotional dysregulation caused by our neurodivergence.”
Struggled with:
Autism
Depression
Dissociative Identity Disorder
Panic attacks
Helped by:
Meditation
Reinventing yourself
“Considering the duration of my struggle, anxiety, and depression have been constants in my life. Over the years, I had tried numerous medications and visited countless therapists, but nothing seemed to offer lasting relief. It wasn’t until I discovered these resources, particularly the “DARE” book, that I finally started to see a glimmer of hope and progress toward overcoming my challenges.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Childhood
Depression
Panic attacks
Helped by:
Self-Care
Self-improvement
Therapy
“Shortly after the trauma, I started to isolate myself from the world. Experiencing anger with just about everything and everyone. Those closest to me sensed something was wrong. I knew something was wrong. But I was not able to identify what it was. Nor could anyone else. I continued to spiral out of control.”
Helped by:
Reinventing yourself
“I tried to keep a smile on my face and pretend all was great, but deep inside, I had this sadness, bitterness, and anger. I was in denial that something was wrong, and in my mind, if I admitted it, it would confirm what I knew all along. That I was a failure at being a mom. I even compared myself with other moms. Imagine that! I tried to hide it from the world.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Postpartum depression
Suicidal
Helped by:
Reinventing yourself
Self-improvement
“I found myself pounding on the wall of my shower, crying my heart out, convinced that my wife and kids would be better off if I killed myself. I had put them through enough stress over the years with my risky business ventures. My life insurance policy would take care of them better than I could.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Depression
Grief
Suicidal
Helped by:
Self-Care
“One day, my heart began racing during practice and I had to step out. Though the team doctors attributed it to post-COVID symptoms, deep down, I knew it was depression and anxiety taking hold. But I hid behind their diagnosis, afraid to reveal my true struggles.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Depression
Stress
Helped by:
“This was a different breed of anxiety. It took me down. I had never experienced suicidal ideation before. I am a fighter and have always been so proud of my resilience, but this was a whole different ball game. Resilience is no match for suicidal ideation.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Panic attacks
Postpartum depression
Suicidal
Helped by:
Treatment
“The pressure I placed on myself only compounded my emotions. I was afraid to tell other people outwardly. I dropped hints to people in hopes someone would just ask because the humiliation of opening up felt too heavy a burden.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Depression
Helped by:
Reinventing yourself
