"Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly" Proverb I had overcome a lot of things in my life and was constantly working on myself, but at 25 years old I still had so much work to do, and a long way to go, in terms of healing and learning [...]
My name is Joe The Sicilian. I grew up in a Bipolar family. My family's Bipolar Disorder seemed normal to me for much of my life. The only person who doesn't have Bipolar Disorder in my family is my mom, who finds it extremely hard to understand the disease. All of my grandparents had it, my aunts and uncles had it, and [...]
My Story My childhood was not a childhood. In my family, men had sex with little girls. It was our normal. It was our culture and it was generational. My parents grew up with it. Their parents grew up with it. Most of the victims in our family didn’t even remember it because the trauma [...]
I was raised by a depressed mother. My Mom’s depression dictated much of my life. When it was not under control, when she was unable to “climb out of a hole,” when she needed someone to talk to, I was there. Because of this, I learned about depression from a very young age. My understanding [...]
When I arrived at the psychiatrist’s office I was jumpy and in tears. I was scared. I didn’t want the stigma of being hospitalized for mental illness but I knew I was in crisis. I explained to the doctor all the things I had been too scared to tell anyone else ever. I spilled the [...]
You don't have to be mentally ill to suffer the stigma associated with mental illness. I know all about it. My mother became psychotic when I was a teenager. She may never have known how the world saw her – or me – after that. But I did. You can imagine what it was like, [...]
My name is Jim Russell. I have been in law enforcement in Florida for over 21 years. I have a mental illness. I have major depressive disorder. Those things are not supposed to go together. A police officer is supposed to be perceived to be in control at all times, and must in all circumstances, [...]
I was diagnosed with depression at the age of 13. During this time I used to self harm, cut, and starve myself to be thin which led to anorexia nervosa. At the age of 14 I became familiar with the idea of ‘suicide’ from a movie and ever since then I’ve always enjoyed researching and [...]
You can look at depression in many ways: seen as a negative to most people, especially when they are being forced to endure it. To live with the daily turbulence that rumbles within their own head. A turbulence that does not engage with the other people surrounding you but can engage these people internally within [...]
Every day I wake up and I am drowning. Each moment of happiness that Ihave is so rare and fleeting that I almost don't know what I amfeeling.My cycle: I start something new, I succeed, I imbed myself in thatlife, and then everything unravels. I fall apart. Relationships andfriendships crumble in the blink of an [...]