‘I’m living proof these drugs work’

AMY PAY was first prescribed antidepressants while studying for her A-levels, after suffering from a combination of severe depression, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder since she was a young teenager.

‘I was in a really bad place,’ she said. ‘I thought that I was not going to reach my 18th birthday.’ Amy, 26, says she hesitated before taking antidepressants, but made the decision after consulting a psychiatrist.

She has now been taking sertraline for eight years, which she combines with cognitive behavioural therapy when she feels the need.

Medication helped her thrive at Cardiff University and she left with a First in English Literature.

‘I’m living proof that antidepressants work. Around a decade ago I hit rock bottom. Without medication and intensive support back then, I wouldn’t be here now,’ says Amy, who is now a freelance journalist.