The Jambar

Issue date: 3/8/07 Section: Entertainment

Jenny Aimon

Jenny Aimon doesn't look any different from the other 13,000 students at Youngstown State University. She has swinging short hair, glasses, a smoky laugh and discusses absolutely everything over a Long Island.

Even her struggle with depression.

"I guess it started in my childhood; I was maybe nine," she shrugs, pulling on a Pall Mall cigarette. "I always felt different and that no one else would ever understand."

Jenny says her home always felt safe, and high school wasn't difficult for her. Her trouble began when she left for college. "I don't know," she trails off as she tries to articulate. "I wouldn't sleep, and if I could, I had trouble waking up and getting to class."

She sets down her coffee, gesticulating abstractly while she tries to explain how depression felt to her.

"It's like … a lethargy - that nothing is worthwhile. I would miss class a lot. Sometimes it would make me feel agoraphobic." She laughs softly around the end of her cigarette. "Luckily, I'm smart. I can cram and pass, but I did skip a lot."

Sighing on an exhale, she's firm about her analysis. "It was the happiest day of my life when I was diagnosed. I was like, 'There are other people with this problem!?' I cried I was so happy."

Finding a level balance wasn't easy for her. Many people diagnosed with depression also suffer from an anxiety disorder, and Jenny is no exception.

"Yeah, I also have anxiety. The medications…" She laughs exasperatedly. "They made me gain weight, and ya know … dry mouth sucks! I always have to carry something to drink with me, and I'm supposed to avoid sunlight. The medication makes me more susceptible to heat stroke." In a wry tone, she adds that living in Youngstown kind of takes care of the sunshine problem.

Pausing to say hello and invite a friend to sit while she discussed her illness, Jenny continued seamlessly, "Did you know there's a correlation between mental illness and creativity?" Her laugh rings out over the bar. "I'm a poet, a musician and an artist! They should have seen it coming!"

She may joke about her illness, but she's knowledgeable about all its aspects. "Mmm… I was on Pamelor first, then I tried Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil."

Because she didn't like the side effects, from time to time, she would quit taking the medications, then go back on them, and repeat the cycle again. "Finally," she says, "I decided 'Fat or crazy?' I cannot function without meds."

Continued...

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