Personal accounts of mental health being talked about openly are rare. But last week Mr Schwartz did just that, holding a panel discussion with co-founder of Angels Hope Chloe Cunningham and Sam Brake, who both overcame generalised anxiety disorder.

“Even though I love doing this, I wish I didn’t have to. I wish it wasn’t a stigma and taboo, but the reality is that it is,” Mr Schwartz said.

“We shouldn’t have to wait until these extremes for it to be spoken about. It should be spoken about as flippantly as we speak about all the other crap we speak about around the dinner table. 

“Why amongst friends can we sit there and talk about who we’re sleeping with and what drugs we took on the weekend, but we can’t actually talk about how we’re feeling?” 

Mr Schwartz, 25, demonstrates it is okay to not be okay through sharing his story. 

“We shouldn’t be afraid to speak about this. We should be more afraid of what not speaking about this can lead to,” he said.

“There is this stigma around opening up, the idea is it’s normally a ‘girls thing’, but I think it’s a human thing. We’re all human and part of being human is feeling.

“Every time I share my story, it allows someone else to share their story with me. I very quickly realised how many people are suffering and just how fortunate I was being a positive example of living through a mental illness.” 

His book Mum I Wish I Was Dead: The Story of a Teenager Who Conquered Depression tells his inspirational story of overcoming mental health issues. 

“The title is confronting, but it’s real and captures the reality of my situation. 

“Confronting is good. Sometimes to break down the barriers we need to be confronted by something.”

Mr Schwartz grew up in a ‘typical family’. 

“I was normal kid. From the outside, it seemed I had everything a normal kid could want.” 

But as a young boy, he battled with mental health. Often he would have endless days off school as a result. In high school he attended an all-boys school.

“I knew how hard my parents had worked to send me to that school. I knew how lucky I was to attend that school. But I was miserable every day I was at that school. 

“How dare I complain or feel bad about going to an elite school ... How dare I feel this way. There were people starving in Africa. What right did I have?”

Mr Schwartz changed to a public school where he thrived. But then he went downhill again. He dropped out in year 11.

“Unless you do well at the end of high school, you’re not going to get into university, you’re not going to succeed and I believed that. I thought I was giving up on my future,” he said.

Over the next 12 months, Mr Schwartz became physically sick and deteriorated quickly. He started losing his voice. The sickness eventually lead to him losing the ability to walk. 

“Because I couldn’t verbalise that I didn’t want to be at school anymore, my mind attacked my body to remove me from that situation.

“I tried medications on and off two years – as a 15 to 17-year-old - and a lot (the medication) made it worse, for me it didn’t work. I gained 20 kilograms in a month, which exacerbated the feelings I was having. 

“Whenever I would see a car driving past I would want to step in front of it. What stopped me was the hope that I would finally get better.”

Every year, more Australians take their own lives than die on our roads. 

Stories like Mr Schwartz’s aren’t uncommon. Launceston resident Chloe Cunningham was diagnosed with conversion disorder, which is when trauma manifests into physical symptoms.

“I was really badly bullied for about six years without telling my family. All that went to physical symptoms and I became paralysed,” Miss Cunningham said. 

She was told her recovery would take two years. But three months later, as a result of sheer determination, she was walking again.

Now a second year behavioural science student at the University of Tasmania, Miss Cunningham is also the co-founder of anti-bullying charity Angels Hope. The charity aims to give hope to those who have been or are being bullied by sharing their own experience.

“People are so much stronger than they think and I honestly believe they can get through it,” she said.

“Mental health can ruin your life, but you can also recover from mental health if you just stay strong and know that there are people out there that can help you.”

Almost every day of the year in Australia, one person under the age of 25 takes their own life.

“I’m standing testament that one can get through mental illness, I’m living proof of what speaking about this does. You will get better even when it seems impossible,” Mr Schwartz said.

“What would I say to my younger self? I would say … It’s going to be hard, but you will get through it. It will change you in ways that few other experiences in life will do and even when you feel like it is impossible, you can’t let that feeling become a belief.”

Saturday, September 10, is National Suicide Prevention Day.

To be involved, simply ask someone if they are OK. It’s OK to not be OK.

For more information about Mr Schwartz’s story, visit: www.adamschwartz.com.au