Mayim Bialik Shares Advice for Her Younger Self About Living With Depression

“Big Bang Theory” star Mayim Bialik is familiar with feeling like nothing will ever make depression better. In a video for the Child Mind Institute, she said,

I had this notion when I was younger that if something didn’t work once, or if a therapist didn’t work, or if a medication didn’t work, that nothing would ever work. And I wish I could have told my younger self that something will work — it’s just going to take sometimes more research, sometimes more referrals, and really figuring things out like your life depends on it. Because for me, it did.”

Bialik’s video is part of the Child Mind Institute’s Mental Health Awareness Month campaign called #MyYoungerSelf, which features short videos released daily from different celebrities speaking to younger versions of themselves about mental health.

Feeling hopeless about finding the right treatment is something many folks with depression experience. In her piece called, “With Depression, Feeling ‘Better’ Isn’t the Same as Feeling ‘Well,’” Mighty contributor Jill Alexandra wrote about the exhaustion of the “trial and error” nature of mental health treatment.

After an almost six month battle with a major depression relapse, several drug trial and errors and many suicidal nights, I can fairly safely say I am finally starting to feel a little better. That being said — I certainly don’t feel well. I still feel completely worn out, I have no interest in doing anything, even the simplest tasks are overwhelming and I would not say “optimistic” is a word that applies to me at the moment.

Bialik wants others to know that even when depression recovery feels hopeless, there is always hope.

“I think what I would have liked to tell my younger self about my mental health is that there are answers,” she said in the video. “For me, some of those answers I had to wait years to find and I needed to get different help, which ended up being really the right kind of help.”

If you are struggling with depression and are feeling hopeless, you’re not alone. Check out the stories below that discuss coping with depression.

8 Depression Coping Strategies That Help Me

How to Make a Commitment to Depression Recovery

4 Phrases That Help Me Through Depression