For the past 24 years, Faye Alleyne has suffered from clinical depression, an illness that she kept well hidden for fear of being stigmatized or even fired from her job.
Even after she sought help and was being treated, Alleyne did not speak publicly about the condition but when a friend confided in her recently about his 17-year struggle with severe debilitating depression, it pushed her to first disclose to him that she had the same struggles and to later publicly speak about it.
Before speaking to Stabroek Weekend, Alleyne, a graduate of the University of the West Indies where she studied Economics and Law, said she first “summoned the balls” to share it on Facebook with the aim of giving hope “to someone who is smiling brightly through the darkness.”
