It's All in Your Head

Author's Note

It's All in Your Head is a fiction story that I wrote in order to highlight the extraordinary impact that depression can have on a person. With that being said, I chose to put a creative spin on the subject because I wanted to raise awareness about the issue in a way that would appeal to a variety of readers (namely the non-non-fiction crowd). Additionally, as a writer I was intrigued by the overall concept of this piece and the challenges that it presented me with. Despite stepping out of my comfort zone however, I was surprised to find that this piece wasn't actually too difficult to write. In truth, the words seemed to just flow out onto the page without me having to think too much about them.

Right from the get-go, I knew that I wanted to write this piece from a third person point of view. This is because although I wanted to convey an important message, I also wanted the story itself to be very open to interpretation. Truly, I wanted to give the reader the opportunity to make their own conclusions about the true meaning behind the story using the symbolism (such as darkness and white vs. black) that I employed throughout the piece. Personally, I also wanted the piece itself to feel like a true fiction story, rather than a fictionalized memoir. As a result, I intentionally relied on several clichés (such as the forest, the stranger, the roses, the dagger) to make the story seem more like a fairy tale, all while still maintaining a dark and serious tone.

Furthermore, one of the most notable formatting choices that I made was to include several section breaks at the very end of the piece. These section breaks (punctuated by the use of an asterisk) are similar to the others throughout the piece (no asterisk) in the sense that they are used to show the passage of time, however they are much more significant because each one represents a separate stage of one's battle with depression. For example, the first section of the story depicts the lead-up, the fall into depression and the resulting outcome – loss of emotion, loss of happiness, self-hatred and loneliness. The second section signifies the moment when the character finally begins to see the merit in living again and starts to realize that she does not have to let depression define her. In particular, I chose to include a string of single words in this section in an attempt to express the range of emotions that the character felt and to highlight the change in perspective that she eventually experienced. Finally, the last section takes place after a significant amount of time has passed and it is the part of the story where the character finally realizes that she has truly beaten depression. Despite being in the future (in terms of the story's timeline), I wrote this section in the past tense to show that although the character will always remember this experience, she has since moved on.

Overall, I am very glad that I took a chance and chose to write this piece. Not only did it give me a chance to grow as a writer, but on a personal level, it has also allowed me to put my own battle with depression behind me by admitting that: yes, it happened, but it happened once upon a time.