Daniel’s Story

Two and a half years ago I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder while staying at an inpatient mental health facility. I ended up in the hospital because I had obsessive thoughts, self harm, and suicidal ideation. I lived nearly 1000 miles away from home at the time, but I confided in my mom because I knew I needed help. She flew me back home and two days later, I was in the mental health facility. Since then, I have fought very hard to improve my mental health. My constant struggle has actually made life easier. The problem is that I still struggle with identifying my emotions and I live in a very toxic family environment. So, sometimes I will dissociate as an unhealthy coping mechanism. Recently, I dissociated for a week. Some days are better than others. There's no cure for my struggles. I think what I go through was caused by nature and nurture, but it doesn't matter anymore. I also have GID, Gender Identity Disorder. It wasn't until two years ago that I started to live as male full time. Now, I am one year into physical transition and it's great. I think being true to myself has helped relieve some of my mental stress. Yet, there are struggles I must face as a transgendered individual that causes further stress. I'm trying my best though. Overall, I have done really well. I'm fighting depression with a vengeance. I take my medication. I go to college again. I'm even losing weight because I've used food as a coping mechanism and I just can't do it anymore. I'm working so hard to better myself and it pays off most of the time. I just want to remind all of my brothers and sisters in mental health that we are warriors and we can do this. Each day is a battle, but we're tough and we're smart enough to ask for the weapons. Today was a very bad day, but sharing this has helped me a bit. I hope you don't feel alone, because you're not. We are everywhere. So, you will never be alone. Stay strong my fellow warriors.