Rikki-Lee Lawrence is no stranger to the pressures of facing depression and anxiety as a young woman.
It all started at work in 2009, when Rikki-Lee had her first panic attack. In 2010 she was diagnosed with depression, which dramatically affected her work, family and social life.
“Now when I go out I’m always worrying when my next attack may be. Any situation where I am not in control is when my anxiety plays up”
Along with Rikki-Lee her mother has also suffered depression and anxiety for 17 years. “It was incredibly hard for me to tell my Mum, she felt it was somehow her fault.”
Rikki-Lee has been confronted with stigma and misconception after speaking out about her depression “It was really hard for people to understand as they always saw a happy person. That’s why campaigns such as Liptember, are incredibly important, helping raise mental health awareness and further educating people on these issues.”
While the vast majority of mental health practitioners now accept women and men have different mental health issues, there is still relatively little research around gender-specific mental health issues and very few education and training resources specially designed for health professionals caring for women experiencing mental health problems.
Spotting the signs of mental health problems or distress in your life is not easy. Many women are able to carry on their day-to-day lives and not reveal, even those closest to them, how they are feeling.
This may be because they want to seem strong, they don’t want to upset family and friends, they don’t want to admit to themselves let alone others that there is something wrong, or because they can’t identify in themselves why they are feeling so anxious, sad, angry or hopeless. Often, it’s because they feel they must be strong and cope for others. And of course, there is fear of the stigma of having a mental health problem.