Jennie is a 19-year-old-university student. She's always been a perfectionist and around the age of 15, when doing her GCSEs, the pressures at school were all mounting up and she started to feel more and more depressed. To try and control these feelings, Jennie stopped eating. Jennie was referred to CAMHS where she had counselling for a couple of years. It didn't help her that much but has since found a helpful CBT focussed counselling service.

Blondel is 21. She's experienced depression for years and she also has OCD. When she was growing up, she had a very difficult home situation and at 12 she lost her baby brother. Blondel has gotten help from counselling and she also has a close family network around her. She has a little daughter who she says 'is my reason to living, to going on'. Blondel enjoys writing, music and spending time with her family. (White British).

Oliver is 23 and a fulltime postgraduate student at university. He was diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) at 8 and later on, just previous to the interview, with early onset bipolar disorder. Originally from the United States, Oliver has mainly been dealing with consultants back home and has had difficulties getting to see a specialist over in the UK. Oliver says he wants to find ways to get better; 'I want to find the right solution, not just the easy one'.

Gemma is 19 and works fulltime in health care. In her last year of 6th form she started developing depression. Her mum took her to the GP and she was diagnosed with severe depression, prescribed antidepressants and referred to counselling. She also found help from establishing a daily routine for herself. Gemma decided to take time off school and work which gave her a much needed break. Over a couple years, she's gotten through her depression and is planning a career in psychology.

Tom is 21 and a fulltime university student. His experiences of depression started during his university placement year in industry. Tom says the combination of a hectic lifestyle, missing home and a very pressurised work environment contributed to him starting to feel unwell. After a few weeks of severe anxiety and despair, Tom's GP diagnosed depression. Since then, Tom's been on antidepressants and his life is back to normal now. In addition to medication, keeping active and going to the gym h

Jo is 25 and a fulltime university student. Her experiences of neglect in childhood caused her to be a very shy and introverted child. Jo's mum passed away when Jo was 13. In school, Jo was picked on for being different and she developed great difficulties being able to concentrate. Much later on, her GP suggested she might be experiencing depression and by this time Jo was also having regular anxiety attacks. Since then, Jo's gotten a lot of help from counselling and she's also exploring such a

Rio is 21 and a college student. He started taking recreational drugs (mainly ecstasy and stimulants) in the party scene with his mates. Rio thinks that drug use was a catalyst for him to develop depression and that recreational drug use can amplify negative factors in life that can lead to depression. After Rio was diagnosed with depression and put on antidepressants, he immediately stopped taking recreational drugs. His depression is well controlled at the moment.

Emma Jane is a fulltime university student. In college, she started feeling low and that 'everything was pointless. On the outside though, Emma Jane appeared bubbly and full of life; she says she didn't want to burden others with her worries. Eventually, a friend encouraged Emma Jane to go to a GP who did diagnose her with depression. Emma Jane tried antidepressants for a while but didn't get much help from them. Counselling; being able to talk about her feelings to someone impartial has been t

No details given

Mandy, Sian and Frankie are friends who met while they were staying on the same psychiatric ward. They say meeting each other was one of the most important things that helped them in hospital and through recovery. They have stayed friends ever since (White British).