As advocates for mental health and help seeking, we often discover that a great chasm separating us from help is gouged open by fear and shame. Treatments have become more effective, and more people in our community voice their support, yet it seems that too many people who need help slip through the cracks and [...]
Growing up, I was told a lot that I am brave and strong. I was told that I handle my chronic pain bone disorder, Multiple Osteochondromas with grace. Those I loved were attempting to lift me up, but it actually had the opposite effect. It suffocated me. I was afraid that if I showed how [...]
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 [...]
I’m one of the lucky ones. Mental illness enslaved me when it locked its sturdy chains around my hands and feet in the late 1990s. But I fought back – strongly and fiercely. Not only against the curse of the illness itself, but against the curse of the stigma it uses to plague its victims. [...]
BACK THEN It all started when I was about 7 years old. My parents fought a lot. My dad often abused my mom by doing terrible things to her. I would often hear her cry and scream and there would be sounds of glass breaking , chairs being thrown, or anything breaking , really. I [...]
DON’T BELIEVE MY SMILE: A COLLAGE I.“You’re not depressed,” my depressed friend said to me, laughing. Our hostess swept by with a tray of hors d’oeuvres and another friend, glass in hand, joined our circle. My friend was so sure about my mood, citing reasons like my extroversion, my smile. It wasn’t easy to insist, [...]
My Suicide Attempt Doesn’t Make Me Unlovable When I was fourteen years old, I tried to kill myself. Whether my brain chemistry, raging hormones, a recent breakup, or chronic low self-esteem were to blame, I can’t say for certain. Often, depression doesn’t seem to need a reason. Like an uninvited house guest, it simply shows [...]
On April 9th 2008, I was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer – osteosarcoma of the femur. At the tender age of fourteen, I wasn’t too concerned about it. It didn’t even occur to me that I could die from it. Something was telling me that I would be just fine and my [...]
ON REACHING OUT I don’t know how to start this article so I guess I’ll just get straight to the point. Somehow we have been taught that being ‘happy’ –or rather, ‘content’— is the norm for everyday life. This has gotten to the point that the question “how are you?” has become more a matter [...]
Stigmatize Me: People Living with Mental Illness Would you purposefully block someone else’s recovery? Would you put someone down for something they have no control over? People with mental illness face prejudice and discrimination in society everyday due to a lack of education about the issue. Mental health and illness education will help decrease mental [...]
