This is the second part of the article that I created. The first article consisted of the first half of people and now this is the second group.

This is just as important and informative and it deserves to be read. 

I want to thank everyone that participated in this, you're all so strong and amazing! I'm so proud of you and I'm happy that you're here and you're still fighting. 

1. What's your age?

• Ages 17-29

2. What mental illness do you currently struggle with?

• Depression and anxiety
• Bipolar disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder and PMDD 
• Anxiety and Depression
• Anxiety, Social Anxiety, and Depression
• Anxiety and Depression
• Major Depressive Disorder, Anxiety, Borderline Personality Disorder
• Bipolar disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, PTSD, GAD and EDNOS(eating disorder not otherwise specified)
• Schizoaffective disorder with bipolar tendencies 

3. When did you first notice symptoms of your mental illness?

• 11
• Ten years old when I hit myself because explaining myself in words wasn’t working.
• When I was 14
• I was about 10 when I really noticed how alone I felt and it quickly turned into I didn’t want to be alive.
• I received help when I was younger I told my mom all these thoughts I was having and she took me to a doctor at age 8/9 he told me I have all these different things adhd add ocd he put me on soooo many meds and they made me so sick and made me feel bad my friends would make fun of me when I would go to a sleep over because I was taking 6 pills in the morning and 5 to sleep at night because I always start to overthink everything at night I later found out he was over medicating me and that’s why I got so sick from them my body didn’t need what he was giving me i sometimes take pills when I have a panic attack and can’t come down by myself and I think they help a lot and that’s the thing with meds they can do wonderful things to help you if you’re given the right ones 
• When i was a freshman in high school
• I’ve always been withdrawn, even as a kid but it never began to fully affect my life until i reached middle school.
• A couple weeks before my 20th birthday.

4. Have you ever received help for this and are you on meds? Have they been helpful?

• I went to therapy for a few months and was on antidepressants for about a year but i don't currently use any medications and haven't seen a therapist in 3.5 years. I was diagnosed after going to the ER with self inflicted cuts on my arms my mom found out and brought me there the day after I was going to kill myself. 
• I have received help, but I am not on meds due to the side effects I experience. So no, they did not help.
• Yes 
• I started my medication when I was 16 after breaking down and telling my mom that I didn’t want to be alive anymore and we went to my doctor as soon as we could. I am taking an anxiety med-Buspirone 15mg and a sleeping pill- amitriptyline 10mg. The anxiety pills I only take when it is bad because I don’t like the side effects and the sleeping pill I started when I would have night terrors every night but I take them if I really can’t sleep
• Yes, I receive help for my mental illnesses and I take medications. I have been inpatient a total of 6 times and have attended residential programs twice. I have also had ECT(electroconvulsive therapy) and TMS(transcranial magnetic stimulation) to try and relieve the symptoms of during my depressive episodes because they usually last months at a time. I currently see a therapist once a week and go to group therapy once a week.  I also see a psychiatrist about once a month to make sure my meds are working how they should be. I do take meds and have been taking them since I was about 16. I have found that all of the help I have sought and am currently receiving have helped me a tremendous amount. The meds are also very helpful for me as well. I credit my current stability to attending therapy and being on the right medication.
• Yes, I’ve received a tremendous amount of help. I’ve been inpatient about 5 times, I’ve gone to residential once and I’ve been in about 6 different partial hospitalization programs. I’m currently seeing a therapist and will soon be joining a support group for my PTSD. I am not currently on medication but I have been in the past. I’ve tried about 20 different meds. I think that they help. 
• I've been to a shit ton of treatment and this includes hospital visits. also have taken tons of different meds. mostly anti-depressants, stimulants and anti-psychotics.

5. What would you say is the most difficult part of living with a mental illness?

• never being able to control it. I could feel confident for a whole week or not have any bad days and randomly get overwhelmed with anxiety or feel down no matter where I am. I could be with friends or at school or even work and I have to ignore it. 
• Feeling care free and on top of the world, having all this confidence and charisma to feel like I'm not worth anything in a couple weeks finding myself feeling empty and unwanted. Self harming just to feel some sort of physical and emotional sensation.
• Motivation and self-destructive thoughts.
• The most difficult part of living with anxiety and depression is learning to love yourself again and accepting who you are.
• It gets in the way of a lot of things I would like to do and sometimes controls me.
• The most difficult part for me is not knowing when an episode is going to happen(particularly with depression) most of the time it will just come on out of nowhere and I feel like I lose control of everything in my life and cannot figure out a way to get everything back together. With anxiety the most difficult part is that I live with it everyday and it never seems to turn off. So having to deal with that all the time is very stressful and can sometimes be debilitating.
• Just doing day to day things. Getting out of bed for one, it isn’t anything close to easy, its so hard. Personal hygiene is difficult, ive gone weeks without a shower and just as long without brushing my teeth, it’s difficult but it happens.
• this illnesses has  Affected me my whole life and it is sadly only gonna get worse with age.

6. How has your illness shaped your life today, if at all? Has it gotten in the way of you being successful in school, work, etc?

• It taught me to think about my actions and words more because you never know when someone could be having an off day and something you say could really hurt more than you think. It caused me to fail a class in high school and brought a lot of baggage when I was dating because it was such a huge part of me. 
• It's shaped me to want to help others. To teach the broken and guide them to heal their inner child. I feel it's made me successful with people, to come from a compassionate heart, not a judgemental one.
• Yes, almost didn’t graduate high school 
• Fighting my brain has definitely impacted my life and my everyday life. When I was younger I would always make my mom ask to do the simplest things like getting a napkin from a staff member or asking where the bathroom was. During school it would be trying to hold in everything during an anxiety attack so others wouldn’t see. I have had anxiety attacks at work and at my current place of work so I try to just not cry if possible and find something that I know I have control over. If possible cleaning, for some reason does help. I beat myself up alot at work and I take angry customer’s words a little too personal. I had an extreme anxiety attack on my 18th birthday at a concert my best friend had taken me to and also bought the tickets for. I felt it was my fault I ruined her night. Dealing with these illnesses has stopped me from a lot of happiness and reaching goals. 
• Yes very much just last month I went through a rough patch with my depression I had no appetite I didn’t want to go to school I didn’t want to go to work I didn’t want to get out of bed I didn’t get enjoyment out of anything it got to the point I asked myself if I even wanted to live anymore because it felt like what am I living for I just fuck things up I would come home from school and sleep from 3pm until it was time for me to get up for school the next morning I stopped talking to everyone because I felt like a burden 
• My illnesses have definitely shaped who I am today. I feel like on one hand I am a stronger individual because of what I have gone through, but on the other hand I still feel weak some of the time because of the things my illness makes very difficult for me to do. Because of my illnesses I had to put law school on hold for a little while(although I did eventually graduate). But I currently can’t work because my illnesses are so debilitating and disabling. This is one of the reasons why I still feel as though I am a weak person. 
• My grades were affected in high school due to my depression and so were they in college. I dropped out of college twice because it was too much for me to handle. I spent more time in hospitals than i did in school and that says something. 
• I got mostly all a's and b's and high school, and got accepted into college, as well is being a college athlete.  I think one of the most surprising things is people with this illness how bright they really are. To be honest my IQ is through the roof
  But even so it's been really tough for me to keep a job and stay in school.
• 7.  Have you ever in your life considered suicide and if so have you ever developed a plan, explain.
• I did consider it. My sister talked me out of it the one time that I was truly serious about it and then I got help, but I’ve never had a full out plan. The first and only time I was just overwhelmed with the emotions and was going to take a bunch of pain pills but it was a spur of the moment and not premeditated. I have suicidal thoughts often still but I am able to talk myself out of it every time luckily.
• Yes, and not so much plans, but more of "I'm going to jump in front of this car." Or "I wonder if I took all those pills."
• Yes, but never thoroughly had a plan. Just scenarios.
• Yes, I have considered suicide and attempted. First time was when I was 10. I don’t know why but I thought a string would somehow work to take my life from my closet bar. Obviously didn’t work. Next time was around 14/15 I had started to really let my depression take over and I was planning to cut my wrists or somewhere on my body open enough in the shower. There was probably 2 more times and the last time I believe I was 19. I had cut my legs and hoped for the best. 
• I have thought of suicide quite a few times I tried at the age of 13/14 I was going through a rough patch and my girlfriend broke up with me and I already was in a deep depression then I lost her so I swallowed two handfuls of Tylenol 
• I have considered suicide, more in like a daydream state rather than a serious plan to kill myself. I have the same plan that pops in my head everytime I think about suicide but I don’t think that I would ever go through with it.
• I have considered suicide and I’ve created so many plans.
• I've contemplated suicide but would never do it and have never tried.

8. Have you ever attempted suicide?

• Not truly 
• Yes, hanging at 17
• No 
• Yes 
• Yes 
• No 
• I’ve tried to kill myself about 3 times. 

9. Are your family/friends supportive? If not, in what ways do you think they could help you?

• My mom is and understands to an extent, my sister also is and so is my boyfriend, but not my dad. They’re pretty much the only family that really knows about it. My dad doesn’t think depression is real and is just imagined and that if you feel this way you’re a baby and need to man up. I guess the only way i wish my dad could help is just not dismiss my feelings and put effort into understanding that it’s a medical issue and not a choice. 
• Try to be, but the wrong words and actions are set into place. They could just sit down and listen instead of giving advice. If I need advice, I will ask.
  I do have a couple friends who sit and listen mindfully. Along with a therapist who I consider my best friend.
• They’re supportive, most of my family struggles with mental illness.
• My mom is the only one that really knows anything about it. I don’t open up to anyone else. My mom has experienced both all her life so she understands most of it but sometimes she has forgotten that its still there and present and she’ll say words that dig more. She or anyone else could help by not taking their own personal experiences and actually listening not just hearing what I say but listening to what I say and if I ask for advice then it’s ok to give but sometimes it's nice to just vent. 
• My family is very iffy with it it’s just not something I talk about around them I keep it to myself most of the time 
• For the most part my family and friends are supportive. Every time I have ended up in inpatient they have always come and visited me and my friends are always there with a listening ear when I need to talk about what I am feeling and what is going on in my life. My family is semi supportive in that they will come visit me and support me in my decision to see a therapist and take meds. But I am not able to talk to them openly about how I am feeling emotionally and what I am going through. It would be great if they would be there to listen to me when I have things to talk about regarding my illnesses. 
• I have the best support system that I could ask for. 
• I'm lucky I have a huge support system ranging from most of my family too many many friends.  So I've been lucky in that regard forsure!

10. What do you wish others knew about mental health?

• We aren’t crazy or unpredictable, we just have some extra needs and that it isn’t made up, it’s genetic or medical and can be proven.
• That understanding, compassion and a listening ear could really make a difference in this person's life. Violence and judgement is never the answer. We judge ourselves enough already.
• That it is the same as a physical injury. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. 
• I wish others knew that mental health isn’t always going to be a constant battle. It is possible for it to be in phases. Or not so present. Each person has their own way with coping with their illness(es). Mental illness isn’t always going to be a physical thing you see like a rash or a broken bone. 
• That we are normal people just like them and we aren’t defined by our illnesses 
• I wish that other people would recognize that it is a valid illness just like any physical illness you can get such as cancer, diabetes, etc. I also wish that people would realize we do not choose to have these illnesses and we do not say we have them just to get attention and have people feel sorry for us.
• We aren’t doing this for attention, we are truly struggling. Life is so fucking difficult when you have any kind of illness. We try as hard as we can and sometimes it just isn’t enough. Give us some extra care. 
• And what I want other people to get from this is people where schizophrenia or bipolar are all crazy.  Some of the most influential people in the history of the United States have had this disease are one of them.
  Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Clowney Jr. (Iron man) and even Einsteines son!

11. What have you learned throughout your journey with mental health?

• I learned to be a better person to others and to always have another perspective.
• Without suffering you cannot truly appreciate happiness. Just like the lotus cannot survive without mud.
• They’re more understanding than I thought.
• I personally have learned that no matter what I won’t reach other people’s expectations or what they conceive as perfect. I have learned that even if I do one thing that is out of my norm for my routine in a day, just one thing, then if was a successful day and I should be proud. 
• I learned a lot about myself and a mental illness is not all I am I look at myself and my depression As two different entities I’ve always found a beauty in the chaos in my brain.
• I have learned that I am stronger than I ever though I could be. That although there are many times where I cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel if I turn to other people for help I will eventually get to the point where the light becomes visible. That it is always worth it to reach out to others for help even if you feel scared or ashamed of what you are going through. That it is possible to get through anything if you put enough time, energy, and effort into it. 
• I’m way stronger than I give myself credit for 

12. Do you think this will be a lifelong illness?

• Probably but it’s been fading over time so it’s possible that it would go away.
• Yes and that’s fine. It makes me, me!
• Yes 
• Yes, I do think or believe my illnesses will be a lifelong journey. These things don’t just go away with a snap of a finger or someone saying everything will be fine. 
• Yes I think anxiety depression will always be a part of my life but I’ve learned to accept it and take it day by day.
• Yes I do, I know for a fact and have accepted that I will probably be in therapy and taking medication for the rest of my life. And that if that is what I need to do in order to stay stable and healthy I am willing to do that. 
• I think that it has the potential to get easier but it will never go away.

13. Is there anything else that you would like people to know about mental health? Maybe people who haven't experienced it. What should they know about it?

• it's scary to experience what mental illness does to a person but just know it's always random and can't be controlled. We appreciate when people learn how to help and understand rather than just always questioning. Until you've been through it, you'll never fully understand what it does to you.
• They should know that we all experience life in different ways. The things we go through shape us. You can never judge someone by first look. You never really know who you could have a connection with. We're all on this big, beautiful planet together. Take a moment to get to know your neighbor and truly take in what makes this individual so unique. We have so much to live for. It's all the little things.
• It’s not something that we don’t want to fix. There’s just some days where it’s really hard to manage.
• I want everyone to understand that telling someone to smile doesn’t make them want to smile. But faking a smile to not get asked if you’re okay also doesn’t always help yourself. It is okay to be vulnerable and show that you’re not mentally okay. It is okay to cry and cry your soul out. It is okay to ask for help. It is okay to not love yourself right now but know that every day you are working on it. It is okay to take time away from people. It is okay. You are fine. You as a person, as a human, as a trillion atoms are going to make it through this fight and come out on top. I know I’m saying this now but I believe it for everyone. Take everyday and wish and hope for another day. If you’re not struggling with depression or actually anxiety. Do NOT and I repeat DO NOT compare your sadness or nervousness to someone who fights for their own eyes to open everyday. It is not alright and it is NOT a joke for others to make. Every illness may it be physical or internal is very serious. Your mother or father or little sibling could have a mental illness and never tell you or let the signs show in front of you because you make ignorant and horrible jokes about another person who does have it. Please mind what you say and be thankful for the people you do have in your lives, as not everyone will live to open their eyes tomorrow. If you know anyone struggling just let them know no matter how close you may be to them that you are a safe place to confide into and that what they say is going to only be between you two. Just be cautious of what you say and stop calling younger people sensitive because we’re finally caring about our health and making it known that we are not okay all the time. For all the parents that have children that are bullies please teach your children in a correct manor how to socialize with others and how to respect them even if they don’t like them. Bullying starts at home and from their environment. We are all teachers and all learners. Everyday is a blessing in disguise.
• I think it’s easy for someone that has never experienced mental illness to say someone with depression is lazy and someone with anxiety is just shy I wish it was that easy but it’s so much more complex and even more complex from person to person
• First, it can be completely debilitating and make it very difficult for us to even get out of bed in the morning let alone shower and brush our teeth and take care of ourselves. This is not just us being lazy. Second, telling someone to just go and exercise and they will feel better, usually(at least for me) makes me angry and makes me feel as if you are undermining the seriousness of my illness and the situation. Third, we all just need people in our corner who we can talk to about what we are going through without feeling judged, feeling judged because of what we are feeling can feel like one of the worst things in the world. It is one reason why many people will not reach out for help when they really need it. 

Suicide Hotline- 1-800-273-8255

Crisis Text Line-text "START" to 741-741