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‘She’s a right little madam.’ You might think that was quite a mean thing for a parent to say about their child, wouldn’t you? Now imagine there is a little more context, that the parent said: ‘Oh Zoë’s a lovely little girl. She’s funny, sweet… except when she doesn’t get a lolly before bed, then she’s a right little madam!’ We can go a little further. Imagine the parent laughed after they said that. Suddenly not quite so bad, huh?

It was November 2004 when I received my comorbid diagnosis: Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia and Major Depressive Disorder. At age 14, this had been a huge relief and also the first time I encountered what the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) were. For the first time, I had a valid explanation for my feelings of impending doom, my breathlessness and dizziness, and my rapid heart rate.