To my 16-year old, suicidal self, Well, I suppose the existence of this letter is a spoiler warning. You did attempt suicide, your overdose put you in the hospital for five weeks, but you didn’t die. In fact, I’m you, and I’m 18 now. I know right now you’re sure that you’ll just attempt suicide [...]
It’s time we stop making jokes about Xanax being a housewife drug. Here’s why: I stood at a standstill in the packed CVS line. People flooded passed the ‘Prescription Pick Up’ sign, and down the aisle. I was the end cap of this madness. I was there to pick up my anxiety rescue medication. [...]
Sometimes, I still find it hard to speak up about the abusive relationships I was in. As if thinking about them, writing about them, talking about them might still give them power or take up too much space in my life. Sometimes, I feel like sharing these stories might tip people off to who they [...]
I still lay awake at night wondering why no one hears me. Why everyone is so indifferent and numb to my plight of depression. Everyone like to say ‘you are not alone’ ‘all you had to do was reach out for help’ I did that and no one listened nor acknowledged my situation. I survived [...]
My name is Nyaruai Gitonga. I will be 30 in February and I live in Nairobi Kenya. I have been rather morbid all my life, I’ve been fascinated by death more so curious on what the feeling just before one leaves this world is like. I took it as a legitimate curiosity which allowed me [...]
It’s pretty difficult to narrow down when my journey actually started, but I’d say it became most prominent during my junior year in high school. The summer before my junior year, I transferred schools and moved in with my aunt and uncle so I would have more educational opportunities. It was a gutsy move now [...]
Even though I had several encounters with schizophrenia when I was a child and a teen, it manifested itself around year 2000 when I was married with no kids but 10 miscarriages. It hit me hard but I fought back, fighting it until year 2008 when it completely engulfed me. I wrote a book about [...]
A Letter To Silence From The Girl Who Found Herself I want to thank you for your time, your comfort, your peace, for you have saved me from my demons. When I struggled with my depression and anxiety, I always knew I had you to count on. When I couldn’t get the conflicting thoughts of [...]
If I hold my arms out, I can tell you which way is east and which is west. I can point up and down to tell you that the sky is “north,” and the ground is “south.” Behind the wheel, that changes. “Head east” does not make sense to me. I have to think extremely [...]
Ho Ho Horrible: My Newfound Battle with Christmas Depression We’ve all heard the stories about depression around the holidays. People cite increased suicide rates with the enthusiasm of a toddler showing off their newest toy, despite the fact that these statistics have been proven false. To dismiss December as being a ‘safe’ month, however, is [...]
