"You’re a joke. You know that, right? No one likes you and if no one likes you they for sure won’t like your writing. Your story is shit. Your writing is shit. Give up now before you embarrass yourself." That’s my anxiety talking, or maybe my depression. It’s difficult to tell sometimes. Either way, they’re [...]
Where is the Sunshine? A journey through the storm into the light I don’t recall exactly when it hit me, but it hit, and when it did I was lost. One-minute I was the epitome of the girl who had everything; successful, with a beautiful family, and a wonderful home and the next, I was [...]
I can’t speak for anyone else who has suffered from a mental illness but I have an uncomfortable confession to make. I feel like I should admit that during my absolute worst, I was conceited and felt special and unique in my pain. When I began exploring the idea of writing about my experience with [...]
Part Of Me “Normal is illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.” –Morticia Addams My life as a liar began when I was very young. I was an awful child. I made everyone in my life angry, constantly. I did very bad and horrible things every day. I was too [...]
Red Lipstick When people talk about anxiety they talk about the huge and strange ways it impacts your life... what they don't talk about is how it can deteriorate the day to day. There was once a time when I was too afraid to wear red lipstick. I felt too bold, too visible, and not [...]
Land of the (not so stigma) Free I am livid. I am so frustrated and hurt that I am physically shaking. As someone who almost lost their life to a treatable condition because of negative stereotypes, misinformation, and stigmatizing jokes, I will not laugh when a presidential candidate insults their opponents by implying they are [...]
When you have a mental illness, it’s customary to look back on your life and try to decipher when it all started. I’ll start with this: I’ve always felt different. That might sound cliché, but it’s true. As a teenager, I was quiet. I spent a lot of time locked in my room reading books. [...]
Sickness, Stress and Self-doubt… And Then There’s Me…. By Berni OK, I was a miserable child, from what I remember. I was the only kid with glasses. I moved about because dad's work moved about. So I joined my junior school mid-year. Don’t ask me at what age. Anyway I was bullied at junior school [...]
EMDR: For People With PTSD So often one of the first questions I am asked when people learn that I am therapist specializing in trauma work is "What is trauma and how do you really know you have PTSD?" So let me first start by explaining these terms, as they are too often misunderstood, with [...]
Inside My Head – Part III It would seem that I’ve hit the trifecta of brain damage. First, I told you about the one I don’t talk about: anxiety and panic. Then, I told you about the one I talk about all the time: concussions and post-concussion syndrome. Now, I’m going to tell you about [...]
