Albury's Sam Little sheds light on depression in new book

She was only 17 and said she just couldn’t get her words out.

“I was just sick of talking and sick of life,” she said.

While she was battling through “the worst 10 days of her life”, Ms Little wrote down every confronting and honest thought in her head.  

And a year later she has now taken those words and created a book, Into The Fog, to give people an understanding of what depression feels like. 

Ms Little, 18, was 16 and on a school trip to Paris when she first realised she had depression.

She said she walked around the city in a haze and felt like she had been drugged. 

“When I was walking past the Eiffel Tower I didn’t even look up,” she said.

“I thought the feeling would go away but it didn’t.”

Ms Little said depression was a robber that stole every joy in her life. 

“I was a national athlete and academic,” she said.

“One by one I shut down and I was getting anxiety attacks when running and I became afraid to see people and stopped going to school.”

During year 12 she also spent two months in hospital.

But despite depression taking hold of Ms Little in ways she described as unfair, she never gave up and wants other sufferers to realise they can beat it too.

Ms Little is now looking towards the future and is studying psychology at La Trobe University and is part of a dialectical behaviour therapy program. 

She only recently read her story for the first time and said it was hard being taken back to those 10 cruel days. 

“I only read it once I was in a better headspace,” she said.

Ms Little wanted to remind people that nobody chose to be sad.

“My mission is to educate parents and give people who don’t have depression a sense of what it’s like because it’s important to break down the stigma,” she said. 

“I also want to give people suffering a sense of hope.”

Ms Little’s story can be purchased from Dymocks in Albury or by visiting www.intothefog.com.au.