Depression is a common mental illness among college students. According to Statista.com, 41% of college students reported to experience symptoms have depression. I sat down with Amanda Stevens, a sophomore at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who has been diagnosed with depression.

When I asked about how she’s been since being diagnosed, she responded that she doesn’t feel any different. The only real difference since is that she seemingly lost interest in a lot of things that she used to really enjoy. 

I then asked how she knew that she might have depression. Her response consisted of the typical symptoms. She said that she wasn’t eating, kept forgetting to do important things like homework and chores, and kept experiencing drastic mood swings. Her parents recommended that she visit a mental health specialist who diagnosed her with depression.

The next few questions I asked talked about those symptoms; starting with the memory loss. She said “the memory loss isn’t as bad as it used to be. I forgot important things like big projects or tests. Now, I just forget to do every day things like brushing my teeth or putting shoes on before I left my room. It got worse before being diagnosed but the meds that my doctor prescribed has helped a lot”. She also noted this may have also been because she stopped caring about these kinds of things which is why she always forgot about them.

The next symptom I dove into was the weight loss. She said it’s due to the fact that she never wanted to eat. She wouldn’t go out of her way to go get a meal. She said she lost around 20 pounds within two weeks solely by not eating. She wouldn’t eat unless she was in a social setting because she didn’t want her friends thinking something was wrong.

I dove deeper into how her depression affected her interaction with her friends. She said “I was scared. My friends and I don’t really get too personal with each other and I didn’t want to ruin our dynamic. I didn’t want them to look at me or treat me any different either”. She demonstrated the common response to sensitive topics with friends. She said her friends caught on eventually and have been really supportive of her efforts to get better.

The last topic I asked Amanda about was how her depression messed with her insomnia. She’s had insomnia since she was in middle school and was on medication for that as well. She said she stopped taking the medication and stayed up all night almost every night and would sleep during the day. She didn’t have any motivation to attend class anyway and she enjoys being up at night more than during the day. Since the depression diagnosis, she went back on her meds for insomnia and began getting into more of a healthy sleep schedule.

Depression is a common occurance among college students. Thankfully, nowadays students are able to get the resources they need to get through it. Mental health is something that shouldn’t wait. If you or anyone you know is experiencing any of these symptoms, get them help. That’s exactly what Amanda’s parents did for her and now she lives a much happier life. Don’t wait and seek help sooner rather than later.