Mind

Kiwi influencer Makaia Carr opens up about her struggle with depression

Living a healthy lifestyle and taking antidepressants has been key to managing her condition.
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Kiwi influencer Makaia Carr is best-known for her wide social media presence and her daily blogs and posts promoting health, wellness and positive body image among women.

But she has a bigger message to share and that is about the importance of taking care of your mental health.

Makaia has battled with depression since she was a teenager, but didn’t realise what her condition was until much more recently. Through her teens and twenties she relied on alcohol and throwing herself into her work to escape from low mood and feelings of not coping, but when she hit a wall at age 30 she knew her lifestyle was going to have to change.

In this video Makaia talks about how she came to that realisation, the importance of exercise in her life to help keep depression at bay – and what happened when she injured her knee and was unable to exercise for several months.

She says accepting that she needed antidepressants has changed her life.

“I’m still on them now.”

There is still a lot of stigma in New Zealand around taking medication for mental health conditions, but the fact is depression is linked to changes in how the brain works and medical treatment is effective and, for some sufferers, necessary.

Watch our video to find out more, and if you think you, or someone you love, might be suffering from depression, here is a list of people and organisations you can contact to get help:

Depression.org.nz – their 24/7 helpline number is: 0800 111 757

Mental Health Foundation

Youthline or free phone 0800 376 633

Lifeline 0800 543 354 or (09) 522 2999

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