SHE grew up thinking that the actions of her schizophrenic mother and brother were "normal".

When she was 15 years old, the brother tried to attack her with a chopper because voices in his head told him that she was trying to harm him.

By the time she was 23, she had tried to kill herself three times.

Now 26, the youth worker and caregiver of her mother and brother tells her story in My Voice: Overcoming, a book on depression by Mr Chua Seng Lee.

Chua is the programme director at JC Edu-Park, a leadership training provider.

The book, published by Write Editions, has been launched and includes a foreword by President S R Nathan.

The young woman, who wanted to be known only be her initials M.Y., signed up for a volunteering programme conducted by Mr Chua when she was a 19-year-old university student.

During an outing with the class, Mr Chua mentioned that M.Y. looked like she was the "bubbly" one in her family.

That acted as a trigger for M.Y. to break down in public.

She said: "Sometimes with depression, you start crying for no reason. It's a release of emotions that have been trapped there for so long, you can't control them any longer."

That sudden outburst was a "tell-tale sign" to Mr Chua that she might have depression, and he reached out to help her.

M.Y. said: "It became a mentorship. He channelled my emotions towards doing social work, and when that relationship was being built, he would show care and concern and ask more about my family."

She said that schizophrenia typically develops during a person's teenage years.

"My older brother started showing signs when he was about 17. My mum has always been like this (schizophrenic) to me... I grew up thinking this was normal," she said.

It was only when M.Y. started comparing her family to other families that she noticed the differences.

She said: "That was when I started to feel anger and hatred. Understanding will not come naturally. There comes a time when there is a breakthrough.

"I realised that I was not alone, and I understood that they, too, were victims. My anger and hatred should have been directed at the illness, not them."

M.Y. told The New Paper that her darkest period was when she was between 19 and 21.

She said: "Depression leads to suicide. I went very near that edge. I felt like I totally lost control of what I was thinking, and I could only think of negative things."

Mr Chua's mentorship was crucial in helping M.Y. fight depression.

M.Y. elaborated: "Building relationships and the support from relationships is much better than any counselling or therapy (to treat depression)."

M.Y. was not the first youth mentored by Mr Chua. The 45-year-old chairman of the National Youth Mentoring Steering Committee has counselled his fair share of troubled youths.

When one of his mentees, 23-year-old Colin Teo, committed suicide early last year due to depression, Mr Chua was motivated to write a book on the subject.

My Voice: Overcoming draws on the stories of people who had suffered and recovered from depression, and includes perspectives from medical professionals.

Mr Chua said: "I had met Colin through a similar training programme (as the one in M.Y.'s university).

"I had been in the youth sector for over 20 years, and I thought I knew the signs and symptoms of depression, so his death really shocked me."

But it gave Mr Chua the motivation to turn his grief into a time of personal growth.

He wanted to learn more (about depression) and wanted to help.

"I asked myself, 'What can I do about this?' And so this launched me into this 1½-year project," he said.

The first-time author didn't find it hard to write the book. "The hard part was collecting the stories and feeling with them," Mr Chua said.

He added: "Hearing about all the pain of life and what they went though... If Iwasn't careful, I could have slipped into depression.

"My family was an invaluable source of support for me (during this time)."

After doing research for the book, Mr Chua said he now has "a better appreciation of this sickness called depression".

He said: "I made a lot of assumptions then (when counselling depressed youths). Now I will listen with a more open heart. People with depression need time for us to hear them."

Mr Chua said the purpose of the book is to "raise awareness of depression, and to give hope (to the sufferers)".

He stressed: "We have that image that having a mental illness means you're mad. This isn't true, and I'm hoping that this (book) will help to de-stigmatise the issue.

My Voice: Overcoming will be available in all major bookstores by the third week of July. It retails at $20 (before GST).

- M.Y., who suffered from depression while living with her mentally ill brother and mother, is now their caregiver and a youth worker

This article was first published in The New Paper.