When I was asked if I wanted to write for Stigma Fighters, I couldn't imagine what it was that I would say to the world about my experience. I have been through so many different experiences both personally and with other people. I fight a battle everyday because of one of these experiences. 6 months [...]
You are not your eating disorder Hi, I’m Erica. I’m 27. I am a wife, a daughter, a dog owner, a psychology research assistant, an athlete, and a friend. I am in recovery from anorexia nervosa, and I am here to take you beneath the surface of an eating disorder. I can’t remember the last time [...]
Crazy, mental, out of it, slacker, sensitive, I've been called all of them either to my face or behind my back. I'm not allowed to have emotions. If I'm having a down day I'm getting depressed again; if I'm anxious about finances, he's having a panic attack. Even on my good days people talk and [...]
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder (most likely Type II, with rare instances of mania) not long after Silver Linings Playbook was released in theaters. In fact, it was in large part due to this theatrical representation of mental illness that I decided to get serious about seeing a psychotherapist. I had, before then, had a dangerous breakdown, [...]
My head is a Room And each thought a person Who walks from one side to the Other – performs his task And then walks out But sometimes, There is a thought who flits Near the top In no particular order And he says Not quite loudly enough That it should cause alarm “I think [...]
When the silence is deafening I recently read a statistic that said one in four people in the US experience some type of mental health challenge. This got me thinking, who are the other three? Having experienced a mental health crisis with my son just a couple years ago, I can tell you that from [...]
When it comes to mental illness, everyone involved learns there’s a fence called “Us and them.” There are those with mental illnesses, and those without: us and them. You’d think it would be different with mental health professionals, better somehow. In some ways it is, of course: pros know the real scoop about psychiatric diagnoses, [...]
Terror. Escape. Shut-down. Repeat. I was abused, neglected, and traumatized when I was a kid. At-the-hands-of-a-sadist kind of thing. In the fallout I developed Complex PTSD, something that’s robbed me of most of my life. When Sarah Fader asked me to write an essay for Stigma Fighters I knew what would happen. Because I’d been through it so many [...]
We all have anxiety. It's our body's response to stressful situations. It's our body's way of telling us to be wary of situations that make us feel uncomfortable. It's our body's response to fight or flight. But what do you do when your body is constantly in that state? Hide? Run? But where to? You [...]
The Stigma of Depression “It’s all in your head”. Yes, unfortunately it is in my head. And my gastro-intestinal system. And muscles. And my checking account. And the hole that once resided a social life. Manic depression – specifically, and mental health issues in general – takes no prisoners and often solicits little understanding. We [...]
