Frances Coleman-Williams
I have had depression and anorexia since I was a teenager but I didn’t have my first hospital admission until I was in my 20s.
After I finished medical school, the stress of being a doctor was too much for me and I became incredibly unwell. To cut a long story short, during one particular hospital stay I reached a new low. Depression had its grip, I could feel the mental pain, physically, my mind and body were in agony; I was not eating, I was not sleeping and I was fixated on finding a way to end my suffering. My illness made me think everyone would be better off without me, I was a burden, I was causing problems, I didn’t think there was any reason to stay around, I didn’t think I was ever going to feel differently about this, and the only way I could change the situation was to end my life.