A Clydebank student has won a literary accolade for her heartfelt account of depression.

Eve Mcdougall-Page described her deepest emotions in an article that made a big impression on Scottish Schools Young Writer of the Year judges.

The 16-year-old Clydebank High pupil’s piece earned her a joint runner-up spot, with the judges – literary figures – praising her bravery in writing a “cry from the heart”.

“A Theory to Happiness”, published in the Scottish Review, tells how when Eve became a “tween” she started to feel self-destructive and “cringey”.

She was overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness which felt like she was “tumbling down a spiral staircase”.

She told the Post: “As to what started my depression, it was no one thing, rather, a series of minorly or majorly bad events – a misunderstanding of love, lack of true friends, unconventional home life or even falling into mud or getting into trouble at school.

“I, like a lot of children, was never taught properly how to handle my emotions or what reality was like.”

She added: “I didn’t even know what it was that I was feeling, or how to describe it, for years and when I did discover how, I was afraid of being judged as another teen labelling themselves for attention.”

The article explains the role her boyfriend had in helping her out of the “vicious circle”.

She wrote: “Nobody before then had paid such genuine attention to my issues. But we weren’t a sappy love story. In fact, arguments came and went like the tides – regular, and often.

“But his tendency towards a short temper and a logical mind was able to teach me a lot about my mind.”

Eve is now telling other young people fighting depression that “the power to change is within yourself.”

She added: “You are never alone – however, ultimately, you are the one with the strength to change your life. No matter how you may feel, you are capable.”

Judge Magnus Linklater, a journalist and writer, said: “This entry was original, strongly expressed and moving – a cry from the heart, expressing what many troubled teenagers must go through.”

Author Alan McIntyre, described the piece as “an unflinching look at childhood depression".

He added: “It was handled with a lot of self-awareness and appropriate detachment in the writing, even though it was a personal testimony.”

Now having achieved success with the competition, and having overcome her depression, Eve is busy at school, with ambitions to study aerospace engineering at either Strathclyde or Glasgow University.

She added: “I am studying science and maths but want to keep on being creative and shift my focus more towards poetry.”

You can read Eve's essay at the Scottish Review.