I was raised by a single mother all of my life. I have met my father and he was in and out of my life but I did not retain the best relationship with him. Around January of 2013 I slumped into a deep depression. I was in a relationship which ended abruptly. And at the same time my mother was trying to get back with my father. I didn’t understand why she would want to be with someone who had once cheated on her and left her broken and alone before.

I began to sleep as much as I could in order to avoid the real world and others. I ignored my friends and family. I isolated myself as much as I could. It got to the point where I felt so alone and sad that I decided to run away from home. I completely cut off my relationship with my mother and even started missing school. I had been to therapy and counseling before after my father leaving so I decided that maybe it would be a good idea to go back talk to someone about what I was going through.

I personally believe that going to counseling was the best decision I ever made. I felt as though I could be honest about my feelings and not have to worry about hurting others. My therapist used a mix of psycho dynamics and cognitive therapy in our sessions. I had to realize that I was using a negative explanatory style for my problems. I blamed everything on myself and believed that it was going to last forever (just like Dr. Wede talked about in class). In addition to counseling I also went to my physician and talked to her about maybe starting an anti-depressant. She prescribed me a low dose of Celexa, a well known medicine in the families of Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Today I am feeling better than ever and have learned different ways to cope with negative events in life and that life does go on.