For years I was just sort of passing through school, just going with the flow, hoping for the best, I never had the best grades, in fact I never really tried. In my late elementary into middle school years I faced harassment from fellow students on the daily, the same students I had been in a class with for years and had to continue to face every day. I became afraid, afraid to show the world who I was, I started to doubt myself and as I started to doubt myself I became depressed and anxious, my grades began to deteriorate. I stopped trying, I thought that I wasn’t good enough, I thought that if I did try I would only be pushed down again by those around me, even by the teachers. The teachers didn’t do a whole lot to help me, I went to a small school where all of the teachers were basically best friends, there were a few that liked to sit around and talk badly about their students, some even, other teachers. When it came down to it I felt like I had nobody to go to, all of my teachers thought that I was either stupid, or lazy, some probably thought that I was both. I sit here today writing this, wondering why most teachers seem uneducated on mental health, maybe they are but don’t care, but either way I’ve always wondered why none of my teachers had much concern while I was sitting at my desk, head down, sometimes in tears, when I had rushed out to the washroom spending nearly 20 mins crying non stop, when I sat alone at lunch in the corner of a room, or when I constantly used excuses to get permission to go home. I hid my depression for years, always afraid that I’d be judged for the way that I was feeling, I wanted desperately to tell someone, anyone but whenever I tried to reach out I couldn’t get the words out.

[Skeezyks]

Hello TheDepressedArtist: What you wrote sounds similar to what I experienced years ago when I was in school. I was bullied, both verbally & physically, by a gang of older boys. Everyone, including my parents, knew what was going on. But nobody cared. Some of my mental health problems started well before this. But this experience probably drove them even deeper than they were already. The teachers at my school were just a bunch of worn-out old hay-burners who wanted to be there even less than I did, which is saying something! I've never recovered...

I wish you well...