DAY 76: June 5, 2020

But I’m Not Depressed

by Lia Rees

Lia was a high-performing student at college in Nottingham when a random incident plunged her into a distorted, chaotic new world. Her thoughts and senses could no longer be trusted, and her intellect was gone. She found herself unemployable, drifting through life.

The lab tests, bloodwork and scans found nothing, so she was given a wastebasket diagnosis: depression. Psychologists tried to manipulate her out of the “negative thinking” behind the symptoms. What negative thinking? she wondered.

Lia had to find out the truth, because nobody else would do it for her.

But I’m Not Depressed is the bleak but hopeful tale of an individual finding her way through adversity. It offers personal insight into the surreal experience of neurological dysfunction, and a spirited defence of medicine in the face of a modern cult of psychobabble.

“If I gave up searching for a cure, I would never be able to prove them wrong.”