Peaks & troughs

Let me paint a picture of an idyllic life. It’s my life, in fact, when I was 20, in the summer after my second year at university. I was studying psychology, which I found fascinating. I had just started going out with my boyfriend, another student, and I was falling in love. I had a great summer job as a swimming teacher; I was close to my parents and my brother; I had a lovely bunch of friends both at university and at home. From the outside, my life that summer was incredibly easy, hopeful. But on the inside I was unravelling.

I was in Turkey when everything came undone, on the first night of a week-long holiday with my three best friends. The problem