FAQs

Look OK…Feel Crap is a campaign run by Action on Depression. Read more about us.

The development of this website was funded by the Scottish Government. More about our funders.

The World Health Organization states that depression will be the second greatest disease burden in the Western World by 2020. In Scotland, there are already significantly worrying indications of this among young adults.

  • 1 in 5 of us will experience depression at some point in our lives.
  • 1 in 10 of our young adults are living with depression right now. (1)
  • Suicide is a leading cause of death in young adults under the age of 35 years.(2)
  • The suicide rate is two and a half times greater among Scots aged 15-24 than it is south of the border (3)
  • There is evidence that that age group may carry their high suicide risk with them as they grew older. Edinburgh University researchers believe this may relate to factors such as high unemployment when they start work, which could trigger lifelong health and social problems (4).

We need to work together to change these disturbing statistics.

 

1.The National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing: Action Plan 2003 - 2006
2.Scotpho http://www.scotpho.org.uk/home/Healthwell-beinganddisease/suicide/suicides_keypoints.asp (accessed 12/01/10)
3.Scotsman 8th August 2009 http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Scotland39s-high-rate-of-suicides.5535843.jp (accessed 12/01/10)
4. ibid

We have worked with people all over Scotland who have experience of depression and the most common answer they tell us when we ask them what it’s like is: It’s just really crap.

That was the starting point for the campaign. We wanted to develop a campaign that would tap into these feelings, one that young adults would recognise and that just said it like it is.

There is a chance that some people think that the word ‘crap’ is a swear word, but in the context of this campaign we think it is more important to use words that are real for young adults.

We did check it out with the Advertising Standards Agency, and they said: “whilst the ads could draw complaints due to the use of the word “crap” in untargeted media, it would be unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence to readers.”

A lot of people hide their depression behind a mask that says that they are doing fine, when in reality they are really struggling to cope with life. This is the reality for approximately 1 in 10 of young adults living in Scotland right now.