I was seen by one constantly because I used to miss school a lot. Some days, I just didn't feel like going to school. Even the slightest of stress felt like hell to me. I didn't know why then, because I was 15. But I just didn't feel like doing anything; that nothing had any meaning. None of my teachers, parents, relatives, friends had any idea what was going on with me either.

Years and years later, my mental stability worsened bit by bit. At around 21, I started showing symptoms of OCD, GAD (general anxiety disorder) and of course, depression. I always suspected there was something wrong with me, but of course I engaged in self-denial. This was only all discovered and accepted by me when I broke down while serving NS, and was diagnosed by several psychiatrists.

Which brings us to the school counsellor. The counsellor was clueless as hell and incredibly incompetent. She never ever considered the possibility that I could be afflicted with any form of mental illness. Once, she even insulted my mother for 'letting me play truant'. There was no way my mom could control me in any way. I was so adverse to going to school that I would have ran away somewhere even if she forced me out of the house. That didn't matter to the counsellor to her though. As far as she was concerned, the only two possibilities were that my mother was a bad parent; or that I was a bad kid. So yeah, I didn't like her very much.