I have bad anxiety and depression I used to get a lot of panic attacks and sometimes my housemates would have to wake me up because I'd been screaming in my sleep. I would get panic attacks at work because I felt like I was getting behind and I really needed the money. It got worse and worse and soon I couldn't work at all. I broke down buying food once when my card was declined. I didn't leave my house for weeks or if I did I could only get to the bottom of my road before my palms would start sweating and I would feel another panic attack coming on. My housemates went above and beyond the call helping my through it, I owe them more then I could possibly repay I don't know what I would have done with out them. But honestly i'm on good medication now and I feel OK, although I still have a social phobia. The best thing about the medication is I can sleep, I've always had trouble sleeping and anxiety made it so much worse but with my pills I can have long and uninterrupted sleep. Bliss. I still have semi-regular nightmares but they aren't anything like as bad as they have been.

My housemates (any very much best friends at this stage) also have... colourful mental health issues of their own. One was misdiagnosed with depression but when his medication made it worse he became suicidal and tried to hang him self. It was realised he probably had bi-polar and that made a lot of sense in retrospect. So they changed his meds and he's doing better now. I stayed with him and his family for Christmas actually and we had an amazing time :D

My other best mate had constant mild visual and auditory hallucinations, very bad insomnia, issues around depression and a LOT of stress around his work and family life. We all suspected schizophrenia but if it was it was very atypical and he been trying to get it diagnosed and treated for years. After a bad breakup I found him in a bathtub full of blood with his wrists cut. We got him to hospital and I spent most of the next 3 days with him (the A&E staff were amazing). He's now doing a job he enjoys with a lot less stress. I got to see him for a few days as I came back through town after Christmas . He's doing OK now.

Compared them I always feel pretty lucky. We all live in different part of the country now but still close. and we are all doing reasonably well now but I miss those guys hard.