"I was holding them up to my palm as if to cut myself," she says. "Clearly what was happening was I needed someone to do something."
Her dad managed to wrestle the scissors from her hands, but that night it had become clear she needed help.
"It was really scary," she recalls. "I was sobbing the whole time."
Savannah was in high school at the time. She says the pressure she felt to succeed — to aim high — had left her anxious and depressed.
"The thoughts that would go through my head were 'this would be so much easier if I wasn't alive, and I just didn't have to do anything anymore.' "
Looking back Savannah, now 23, says the pressure started early.
She told us her story as we sat at the kitchen table of her childhood home in Wilton, Conn., a wealthy community near New York. Her dad commutes to the city where he works in finance.
From the outside, Savannah's life may have appeared picture-perfect: two well-educated, loving parents; a beautiful home; siblings and lots of friends.
From an early age, Savannah says, she was considered one of the smart kids, and when she arrived at Wilton High School, she was surrounded by many other high achievers. Lots of kids take a heavy load of Advanced Placement and honors courses. They play varsity or club sports and are involved in lots of extracurricular activities.
But by sophomore year, the high expectations began to feel like a trap. Like many kids at her school...continue here.
-- Allison Aubrey, Jane Greenhalgh
