Resources and Useful Links

Many people may go through a time in their life where they have thoughts of wanting to end their lives. It feels too painful to go on living and life may feel meaningless, and he or she feels hopeless and powerless in the face of his or her situation.

Self harm is a way of expressing, and sometimes the only way of expressing pent-up, over-powering feelings. Self harm is an expression of personal distress usually made in private, by an individual who hurts himself or herself.

The teenage years are turbulent times for the teenager – huge changes are happening to him emotionally and physically. He is growing up and separating from his parents and this can be difficult and challenging for both. Many issues may come to the fore at this time in their lives. Some people become depressed for the first time around the ages of 13-15, at a time when they are least able to cope and when they may feel very alone. This is also a time when they may question their sexuality. Some may start to self-harm in an effort to cope with these intense feelings and pressures be it from issues to do with friends, school, relationships, family and other situations.

A panic attack is an extreme fear response which occurs when a person is convinced they are in extreme danger, although no real danger exists ("When Panic Attacks" Dr Aine Tubridy). He or she may experience heart palpitations, sweating, dizziness, breathing difficulties, sometimes even the feeling that he or she is about to die. A panic attack can be a really frightening for that person.

Depression can be intensely painful. You may feel sad, worthless, frightened and alone. Everyone can feel this way at different times in their life, the difference with depression is that these feelings are not fleeting and it may feel like you will always feel this way. Sometimes it may feel like nothing in life can make you feel happy and alive – you may feel you have lost your engagement and excitement about anything that a day can bring, things that used to give pleasure no longer feel this way. It may feel too much to face the day and life feels exhausting and overwhelming.