"Anxiety and Depression"

I've had bad social anxiety for about 10 years now, and when I started university (just under 2 years ago) I was too nervous to talk to people and thought that everyone hated me or just didn't want me to be around them, so I avoided them. As a result, I didn't make a group of friends, and this caused me to develop really severe depression to the point where I was having a lot of suicidal thoughts. I never made plans to kill myself, but there were times where I would sit around for literally 5 hours thinking about wanting to die, and sometimes at the tube station I felt some urges to jump.

After about a year I decided to seek help (with not too high hopes), and I was referred to Ealing IAPT in Southall where Annabel was my therapist, and she has helped me so much. It's been slow progress, but in recent weeks I've felt my depression start to completely go, and my anxiety is the lowest it's been for as long as I can remember, I'm actually starting to talk to people and make friends again! Annabel was really supportive of me the whole time, even when I was at my worst, and I've trusted her enough to talk about things I wouldn't tell others. I've also felt like she has actually cared about me and my improvement, which has made me feel much less alone in this battle, and right now I actually have optimism for the future and a reason to keep living, which I definitely didn't have before.

I'm so glad I got help, this service and therapist have completely changed my life around and I will always be grateful. Thank you so much, and I would recommend this service to anyone who feels similarly, it's definitely worth it if you get the right therapist for you.