About Me
I thought that it would be important for you to know about me and why I find this so important and vital.
The Basics
My name is Crystal Snyder, I’m single, in my 30’s; have brown hair, blue eyes and I have three cats and one dog.
I also have severe recurrent major depressive order, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and chronic passive suicidal ideation.
I am also a diabetic and I have hypothyroidism.
It’s quite a cornucopia of medical issues, no?
The Early Years
Although I was formally diagnosed with depression at 15 and with GAD in my late 20’s, I started showing signs of both as early as seven or eight-years-old.
There are not many memories of that time that are very strong in my mind, but I do remember the first or second grade – though I’m not sure which – and we’d be at recess. The school was at the bottom of this large hill and the playground was right before the hill began. Almost every single day I’d take a book and climb most of the way up the hill and stay there. I’d read alone until the end of recess or until a teacher called me down.
Doctors call it isolating and it is a symptom of depression. Of course, that was the late 80’s or early 90’s and you certainly don’t expect to see signs of depression in such a young child.
I can also recall, maybe a year later, always having tummy issues. “Mama, my stomach hurts.” I can’t tell you how many times they took me to the doctor or how many tests they did. Even now, over twenty years later, my stomach still hurts. It’s anxiety. My stomach hurts, my chest hurts and my heart races.
A Little Bit About Depression and Anxiety in Children
The Anxiety and Depression Association of America ( https://adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/children/anxiety-and-depression ) says that as many as 2-3% of children ages 6-12 may have serious depression. I couldn’t find out how many children that is, but I’ll try to put it into context.
A small-town elementary school may have four classes of 20 children per grade, for a total of 80 children per grade. This means that there are approximately 480 children in grades one through six in one school. There are 5,282 elementary schools in the state of Florida. So an estimated 50,000 children in the State of Florida will suffer from serious depression or anxiety. Please know that these numbers are approximate and are based on my own math from the data given.
Moving On…
So that’s depression and anxiety, what about PTSD?
The PTSD is a very recent diagnosis. I was only diagnosed with that a little over a month ago, and the circumstances around this aren’t extremely clear. The best guess that my doctor and I have about how I developed this is a combination of some abuse that I suffered as a teenager and finding my mother dead.
For my troubles, I have been hospitalized four times in the past month and a half. It’s quite a lot and you can find more information about that on my blog.
To Finish This Up
Continuing this blog and talking about all of this is very important to me. I think it will aid my recovery and make it easier for me to talk about things. I’ve long considered myself a better writer than a speaker, and this is a way of getting it all out. If this can help somebody else, or if this can open up a discussion… If my being upfront and honest and can help reduce the stigma that still exists even now, then I am proud to do this.