Inspiring stories
See below for some inspiring stories about real people dealing and living with mental health issues.
Bani’s Story – Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Bani Aadam is a Support Group Leader with the Wayahead. He has experienced OCD
and is very supportive of others with an Anxiety Disorder.
What is your experience with OCD?
If you could wish for a life without OCD, would you?
Julie’s Story – Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
My personal experience with OCD
Julie Leitch spent the first part of her adult life dealing with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Utilising Cognitive Behaviour Therapy she overcame it and provided education so that others can learn to recognise and deal with their Anxiety Disorders. In this video Julie details some of her journey, she describes her illness and how she has recovered from OCD.
Marie’s Story – Agoraphobia
My anxiety started when I was very young. I was always a nervous child and had low self-esteem. I never understood the feelings I had and just assumed that it was me.
I struggled on into my early twenties with feelings of anxiousness and depression. It was when my first son was born that I became aware that anxiety was a big problem in my life. He was born with a hare lip and a cleft palate and required a lot of medical assistance. I wasn’t coping and became mildly depressed. I continued to battle on, always anxious and now looking back, still depressed. That went on for about 8 years until my second son was born.
Throughout the pregnancy, I was nervous about having another baby with a hare lip, but he was ok when he was born. He was a low birth weight and was put into natal ICU. I began having anxiety attacks and could not get myself together. I had a caesarean with this birth and after 10 days we went home. I was very anxious and the nervousness was consequently transferred to my baby. I sought help from Karitane but nothing helped.
When my baby was 3 months old, I went to my local hospital’s psychiatric ward and was seen by a psychiatrist, and it was then I was diagnosed with post natal depression and agoraphobia. I began an eight month program of day therapy at the hospital learning how to cope with my anxiety and depression. I believed I was cured and I didn’t heed the warning signs that my illness was coming back.
About three years later I began to have panic attacks. I had laboured, heavy breathing. I had palpitations and kept thinking that I would freak-out or die. It got so bad that I couldn’t go out, even if I had someone with me. As I had never had a panic attack before, I began to get ever more scared and lost the ability to cope with my new baby. I saw a psychologist who recommended group therapy. I started attending the group and continued for several years.
I did get some help from the therapy, but it was when I found a support group for anxiety disorders I started to feel that I could control my attacks and my depression. I realised that I wasn’t the only one who suffers and I got good advice from the other group members. I began doing volunteer work and found that extremely rewarding. I volunteered for several years making some good friends, but eventually stopped due to health problems. I find that even after all the therapy and learning strategies to control the anxiety and depression, I still must be very vigilant at times of stress or when my health is not so good.
I believe that I will always have anxiety and at times depression. However, I am now confident that I can control them and not let them control me.
Quinn’s story – Generalised Anxiety Disorder
My name is Quinn. I have had a Generalised Anxiety Disorder since I was seven years old, and have lived with it for the past 13 years. When I was younger, I would wake up every morning feeling sick in the stomach, which caused me to be late for school, and on many occasions I missed days off school sick.
My mum took me to the GP who did numerous tests on me. I was even sent to a specialist for an endoscopy. All the tests came back negative. The GP said I was suffering from an anxiety disorder.
My anxiety caused me to suffer from lack of sleep due to all the “what if” questions. It stopped me from going to school camps and sleep overs. I missed the enjoyment of a normal childhood due to constant worrying about anything and everything.
My teachers also spoke to my mum about all my worries at school. They said it was starting to interfere with my school work.
I was referred to Macquarie University where I started in a program for children with anxiety. It was then I was diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder. The program was held over a number of weeks. I met some really nice kids who were going through the same things as me, so we could relate to each other. The program not only taught us how to get our anxiety under control, it also gave us strategies to use if and when we were stressed, tired or unwell. Those were the times when my anxiety would rear it’s ugly head again.
Although my treatment was 12 years ago and I would say my anxiety is 98% under control, I still have days where I am feeling a bit more than a little anxious. I often talk to my mum about the silly thoughts that I have. She usually says, “now is that a real worry? Has it happened yet? Well don’t worry about things that haven’t happened yet, life is too short to worry about those things.”
Although I know this to be true, I do have times where I do worry about the future. I know that no amount of worry is going to change things in my life. With the help of my mum, I am going well and just need to stay on top of the anxiety and get rid of it altogether. Easier said than done, but it’s something I’m working hard on and putting my learned skills into practice.
Small steps
Our Small Steps seminars, designed to help parents and teachers identify and address anxiety disorders in children, are now available online.
Anxiety support groups
Prospective attendees are advised to check this page in the days before the group is scheduled to take place to make sure there haven’t been any changes or cancellations. Any such deviations from the information above will be announced in orange at the top of the page.
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