“I have thought about suicide lots of times in my life, but at one point I was sure it would be the only way to stop my pain. I wanted to go on the tracks – to make absolutely sure that at least one thing that I did in my life was successful.”

Nina talks without embarrassment about this moment, which she calls the “lowest point in my life”. Now, years later, she knows that you do not have to feel ashamed of suffering from depression. “But at that time I felt alone and could talk to no one about my problems.”

Nina is one of the estimated 10 per cent of adults who suffer from depression, which is most common among people aged 25 to 44. Leaving the family home for student life or starting a first job are happy moments for some, but for others are simply too stressful.

While feeling sad or fed up from time to time is a normal reaction to stressful situations, people suffering from depression experience these feelings acutely and often over prolonged periods. Relationships with family and friends become more difficult, confidence drops and is replaced by a deep feeling of helplessness or hopelessness. Sufferers may lose their appetite and even the smallest effort seems to require too more energy. Often depression is a result of a person’s immediate situation coupled with predisposing elements, such as childhood experiences.

Nina says that in her case her mother’s illness and the sense of failing at university triggered her first depressive episode. “It all started when my mother was diagnosed with cancer and suffered for a long time. I would take time off from uni to go home, which had a negative effect on my marks. I had always been very good at school, but suddenly I felt that I could hardly catch up with my friends.

“I was so afraid to fail my psychology course and never get a good job. I did not want to disappoint my family. Then my mother died and I felt a responsibility to take care of my father. I didn’t want to be an extra burden so I played the tough one. But I felt so alone – I could not talk to my father, he suffered enough. I missed my mum and still felt let down by her.”

Finding somebody to talk to is essential for finding help. However, in a recent study, five per cent of young people said they would not speak to anyone when feeling depressed, with 89 per cent choosing not to talk to their GP in the first instance. Only one in ten said they would turn to their parents, while 10 per cent identified family and friends as their greatest cause of stress.

Nowadays all universities offer a counselling service for their students, which has been set up to deal quickly and confidentially with students’ problems. “We normally see students within a week and explore with them why they have come for counselling,” says Charlotte Halvorsen, head of the Students Counselling Service at City University, London.

She stresses that the counselling service is absolutely confidential. “We do not talk to parents or the university about people’s problems.” Once the depression has been identified it can be treated with talking therapies or medicine. With help 80 per cent of people suffering from depression can be cured, but not all seek help in time. Two people commit suicide each day in the UK as a result of depression.

Counselling psychologist Yvonne Walsh suspects that this is partly due to the stigma which is still attached to mental illnesses. “It is not so much being ashamed about being depressed – it is more the idea ‘I might be mad’. ” Although depression is not necessarily a mental illness, it is viewed in the same negative light. A survey by the Depression Alliance revealed that more than 27 per cent of the population believe that depression is a sign of weakness or an indication of an over emotional person; one in five think that sufferers could pull themselves together.

Nina sighs: “I believed this myself, but after two months I fell into this black hole. I did not go to uni any more, I did not eat and could hardly get out of bed. Life was just too much to bear. In the end my flatmates called my dad and he took me home. We had a long talk after which I agreed to take a break from uni and see a therapist. He helped me with my depression and convinced me that it was worth living – and now I am so glad that I did not go on the tracks.”

Stefan Maas is a 2nd-year journalism student at City University, London

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