For more than 30 years, Madison Kennedy had to deal with her mental illness alone because medical authorities didn't know how to help her.
By the time the Sydney woman's anxiety disorder was finally diagnosed and treated in 2008, she had given up on ever finding a cure and resigned herself to living in a tortured state.
Ms Kennedy's account is one of many that contributed to a groundbreaking national report on Australia's mental health services relying on the personal experiences of people the system is meant to help.
Releasing its first annual report card in Sydney on Tuesday, the National Mental Health Commission made 10 recommendations it believes will help people suffering a mental illness receive better and earlier treatment.
Madison said she began suffering anxiety and panic attacks when she was just four years old but did not receive the help she needed until she was 37.
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She saw around 25 specialists, none of whom could help.
"It was horrendous. I felt like everybody was constantly giving up on me," she told AAP. "
By my early 30s I thought `this is my lot in life, I'm going to have to live in this terrible tortured state and nobody can help me'. "I pretty much gave up on myself, which was a terrible way to live."
She said her illness was made worse by the fact she was considered to be "high functioning".
"I had a really good job, I had a partner, a house - so I really didn't tell that many people and my illness was internalised.
"It affected all of my relationships."
Madison finally received the help she needed when she gave birth to her daughter, when a nurse with psychiatric training recognised the symptoms of mental illness and referred her to a suitable hospital.
"Giving birth to my daughter was like giving bith to a whole new life."
