Back and Forth: "Find a Nugget and Explore"

So all day I have been contemplating my ideas and going back and forth between past ideas and possible future ones.
So far my mind thought has gone like this:

1. DEPRESSION: This was my first starting point and a HUGE topic with so many different possibilities, causes, symptoms, signs and types. The subject could easily become complicated to deal with in regards of ethics and the sheer mass of knowledge that would need to be consumed in order to understand the illness as a whole.

2. TEENAGE DEPRESSION: This topic wasn't narrowed down, however the target group was. Teenagers. This is an age group I feel is neglected in terms of this illness as most people pass it off as a black mood, time of the month, tiff, typical teenager. Most of the time they could be asking for help, so I believed this target group needed to be aware of recognising symptoms and know what to do to help themselves initially before gaining the confidence to open up and talk about their issues. This is also the time of their lives where big changes happen and life changing events take place.

3. STUDENT DEPRESSION: As depression in a large age group such as teenagers was also still too large, I moved on to focusing on a particular event in someone's life which was significant to possible feelings of depression. Focusing on moving to Uni and away from home for the first time seemed a sensible option.


4. DEPRESSION WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY EXPERIENCE: After much research and discussions with various students and tutors, I found that although the initial move is daunting, depression can strike at any time during the time you spend at Uni. Depression amongst students is on the rise due to the lifestyles they lead. These lifestyles are typical amongst all students, but can have a severe affect on the individuals. Awareness needs to be raised and people need to be encouraged to talk to someone in order to help themselves before sinking in to deep.

5. ASKING FOR HELP: The more research I have been engaging in, the more my project seems to change. Still focusing on University students, I think the problem is that not enough people ask for help when they really need it. Continuing from students being encouraged to talk about their problems, can also lead to asking for help with Uni work, help about where to go and who to see about health problems/money problems etc. It is a different spin on my previous idea as I'd be encouraging people to ask for help and talk it out in order to boost confidence, which in turn will subtly move them away from the risks of stress, anxiety and depression.

As I am STILL not 100% sure on my solid focus, I'm currently juggling these ideas around in order to see where I can take this. Survey 3 has been completed and I am awaiting my results.