Mental health issues can affect anyone. We believe that sharing powerful stories from our users on how Feel has helped them may help someone just like you take action to improve their mental wellbeing. This is Georgia’s story.
“My name is Georgia, and I’m a 22-year-old economics student. I love books and photography and I have two siblings. However, from a very young age, I have suffered from severe stress. In my 2nd year of college, I started psychotherapy where I discovered that the type of excessive stress I have is called Anxiety Disorder.
Life with Anxiety Disorder is not easy because it’s not like the usual stress that the average person has. Stress has caused me a chronic problem with my stomach, along with many other psychosomatic issues.
At one point in my life, I was so anxious about everything I couldn’t function properly and did not feel myself. For a while, I was on the verge of depression. However, because my anxiety issues prevailed, the depression did not progress. This is the only time that I can say being stressed actually helped me.
In high school, I realized that it couldn’t be normal for me to be so stressed all the time, so I started psychotherapy. Unfortunately, the therapist made me feel worse. He did not explain what my issues were or where they came from. He just considered me over-dramatic, which made me feel like I really was!
During my senior year in high school, I had my first panic attack, the first among many. They continued until the 2nd year in college when I realized I couldn’t live like that any longer and decided to try psychotherapy again. It was the best thing I ever did. It was my psychologist at the time who suggested that I try the Feel Program, and I am very happy that she gave me this opportunity.
The Feel Program has not only helped me understand the patterns of my anxiety but, more importantly, how to control it. My stress has not stopped completely, but the program has helped me learn how to manage it to such an extent that my daily life is no longer affected. I am lucky to have participated in Feel and it is an experience that I would not change with anything.
I would like people to understand that mental health issues are not a joke and that not everyone who has a mental health problem intentionally causes it for themselves, as I have often heard them say.
Sometimes, it hurts when people who don’t have anxiety issues think we’re being over-dramatic. Also, phrases like ‘just relax’, or ‘don’t stress so much’, among others, not only don’t help us but irritate us too.
If someone feels that something is bothering them and making their life difficult, my advice would be to turn to a specialist and not listen to everyone and their advice as they are far from experts. I come from a small town, and if I had listened to others, I would never have gone to a psychologist or participated in the Feel Program because where I come from, mental health is taboo.
I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason. And what does not kill you, certainly makes you stronger! So be kind to all people and even more so to people with mental health problems.”
Georgia, 22, Greece
If Georgia’s story inspired you and you feel like you are struggling with a mental health issue, don’t suffer in silence! Reach out for support and talk to a qualified professional, as there are ways to get help and feel better.
If you are looking for long-term mental health support or have already been diagnosed with a mild to moderate mental health disorder such as anxiety or depression, please take a look at our Feel Program here.
If you would like to learn how you can turn anxiety into a balanced emotional state, then we urge you to try Feel Relief, which will help you develop long-term mental health coping skills. Both programs were created as part of our efforts to develop digital biomarkers and therapeutics to bring objective, passive, and continuous measurement and data to reinvent the way we diagnose, manage, and care for mental health.