hello my name is olga i'm a voice hearer i have heard voices all my life actually however i have also been given the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia probably the most devastating label i have ever been given i became this sort of shuffling zombie i spent 10 years in in psychiatry completely given up upon and was considered utterly unable to function my name is and i have an anxiety disorder my anxiety manifests at night and endlessly i wake up in the middle of the night the feeling of fear i wake up sometimes catching my breath i get this anxiety because of the pressure to excel in my studies in a highly competitive environment people often expect so much of you because of that stigma diagnosis is often related with weakness my name is eddie kimani in 2017 i was diagnosed with depression and anxiety what hit me hard was the baggage and the labels that came with this diagnosis so i ended up putting a mark of shame on myself because i felt as if i had failed not only myself but everybody around me and that turned to feeling like i did not belong because i felt i had something that was not accepted in the society people did not understand me because i did not give them the permission to see what i was going through so i was judged harshly and that complicated everything hi my name is enoch lee i've been diagnosed with clinical depression generalized anxiety disorder and have lived through suicide attempts and burnout however as i became more open with this diagnosis and also in some of my work to build mentally healthy workplaces i share this experience i notice i start to get boxed up and identified as here's a speaker who will talk about depression and sometimes i feel like maybe that's all they know about me it seems like they think about me as well she's the overachiever and she's afraid of failing of course she's depressed [Music] however i think i'm much more than that and even in my speaking and writing work i can do much more than talk about and write about a question i'm also a social entrepreneur and i know the perils of starting a company i can easily speak about experience and leadership there are many stories behind the stories we hear and i really hope that people will take the time to listen to those untold ones [Music] getting an overall picture of myself every time when i feel off helps me to make sense of what's happening in my life at that moment i also revived a passion i had as a young boy which is art and now i'm positively consumed by it so i feel like i'm fulfilling part of my purpose here and continuing every day to be the best version of myself people are more than their diagnosis i choose not to be labeled with anxiety instead of being defeated with fear i choose to stand up to it as a law student my dream of being a lawyer is bigger than my fear each person with a diagnosis has a story and it's worth looking at i am working today as a psychologist as one of the things i wanted to do was to help all the people who were told the same message of hopelessness i'm a cat lover an avid photographer i'm very very happy remember to reach out and talk to people talk to others who have similar experiences it can really help [Music]