Filmmaker Statement

"I have struggled with depression since childhood; I was only twelve years old when I was first diagnosed with the disorder. Thanks to therapy and medication I have recovered, but the cycle of depression periodically reoccurs. I now think of depression as an old friend who visits every few years and, with help, leaves again. The last two times I was diagnosed with depression I felt so numb that I had to take antidepressants. Although they largely helped, the side effects were an additional unexpected challenge. The medication caused varying psychological effects; most improved my ability to function in everyday life, however, others made my perception of reality unreliable. I couldn’t differentiate between memories and dreams and experienced vivid, intrusive thoughts. While in recent years, antidepressants have fortunately vastly been de-stigmatized, there remains a visible lack of representation in film of the physical changes people go through while taking and once finished wit