"When Doing Well suggested I take anti-depressants I knew I couldn't go on as I was because I was in a downward spiral.

"It was a surprise to me how well they worked - the improvement has been tremendous.

"Now, I'm not bursting into tears every five minutes. I'm getting up in the morning. I'm coping with my work. I'm enjoying my work. I look forward to seeing my students, and I do my prep work at night - but a few months ago you'd have to drag me over hot coals to get me to do that. I'm enjoying life again.

"I do still feel there is a stigma to it though. Even now there are very few people who know I am on anti-depressants. People see the difference in me: they see I'm looking happier but I'm not happy saying it's because I'm on the anti-depressants.

"My husband doesn't know I'm on them, my children don't know I'm on them either. In a way I feel I've let myself down by taking them and that's something I have to deal with in the future.

"I knew I had to take them to give myself a chance. Then after a while- about six weeks in my case - I woke up in the morning and realised I wasn't feeling terrible anymore.

"My situation hasn't changed over the last three months - it is the same as it was. But now I feel I can cope with it."

Lastly, I had the option to participate in the ‘doing well’ service at my GPs surgery.  What a great idea!

"People would look at me and assume I could cope because I’m all smiles. I’m an athlete too, so I look well, and I’m a hard worker who never wanted to admit I couldn’t cope. But underneath I wasn’t like that.

I feel that at 24 I am only now beginning to make decisions based on what I want to do, and not what I feel others expect of me. 

My GP referred me to Doing Well, and I saw a psychotherapist there for about four and a half months. It was a lot about self-help, but I went onto antidepressants too.

My family and friends advised me not to take medication – but they had no idea how I was feeling, I was in such a bad place.

I agreed to take anti-depressants but it was a good two weeks or so before things started to improve. In fact at first they seemed to get worse, but they’ve helped enormously.

I wrote a diary with Doing Well, and that started a process of positive thinking. After four and a half months, I was referred to a psychotherapist. At first that was really strange. It’s like being left alone with your thoughts, because my therapist didn't speak much to start with. But for me it helped a lot. I began to see how one thing would lead to another, how my emotions were linked.

Now I’m about to go on a Round the World trip, by myself, which is a huge step for me but I’m really looking forward to it. I don’t worry about sliding back - I just think I’ve overcome something and moved on."

"the effect of therapy really surprised me..."

I’m a doctor myself and I think that made me feel sceptical about the idea of going to see a therapist at the Doing Well clinic. I just thought I wouldn’t hear anything I didn’t already know.

I had a twelve year relationship, from university through my 20s, which wasn’t going anywhere, and I was at an age – I’m 33 - where I felt I should be settling down, but wasn’t.

I knew the anti-depressants would get me through the low feeling I had – I have used them before - and give me a chance to get myself together. But the effect of the therapy really surprised me.

I started to feel a lot better very quickly - so quickly I knew it couldn’t have been down to the drugs. Essentially, here was another healthcare professional reassuring me that what I was feeling was a genuinely problem.

I have a lot of friends to talk to, and family, but I often felt I was whingeing by talking to them about this sort of thing, that I was just making an unnecessary fuss.

But here was another professional telling me I wasn’t just making a fuss, that the problems I felt I had were real. That was of enormous help to me from the start, and the lift really surprised me.

One of the things I was concerned about was that the cycle of depressions would leave a permanent mark on me – this was who I now was. The therapist has helped reassure me that this was not the case and I feel more confident now of my own personality and individuality.

I’m also a more philosophical person now. Recently, another relationship came to an end, with a different partner, and it really wasn’t as traumatic as I’d have expected it would be. I felt a dip, but I’ve recovered, and for me that is a huge leap forward.