For years, I kept my struggles with depression hidden away. I was embarrassed. I was afraid. I didn’t want to burden people. I didn’t want anyone to think I was flawed, or weak, or crazy. It made me feel truly alone. But then, I met a few other people willing to open up about the [...]
The cocky fireman got way too close to my face and rudely asked: “what, are you on drugs?!” My response? “YEAH ASSHOLE I HAVE A PANIC DISORDER!” I didn’t know I was pregnant. Let me make that very clear. I had no idea I was pregnant. I thought I was simply going insane and losing [...]
I will never forget the time I sat in the closet my belly panging at me begging to be fed. I was so upset that I simply was unable to speak. My anxiety disorder completely ignored. I was shouting on the inside but of course, no one could hear that except me the hollow echoes [...]
Childhood I know I did not have anxiety or depression when I was a kid. Yes, I was anxious about getting friends because I was a shy and quiet person. I also knew I had a hard time making friends because of it. So, my mother enrolled me in an after-school program and dance classes. [...]
My daughter, Samantha, was seven-years-old when she was diagnosed with an “unspecified mood disorder.” This is what doctors usually say when they don’t want to tell you a hard truth – in our case it was early-onset bipolar disorder (as opposed to major depressive disorder or seasonal affective disorder) and we were in for years [...]
My sister wouldn’t talk to me for almost five years. The original story from my perspective was she was mad at me for not working while I was getting multiple panic attacks a day while pregnant with my first son. At one point she even told me “Fuck your therapist and fuck your doctor, you [...]
I was born into a humble family. I was the last child. I am what people call ' born by mistake'. My birth was unplanned and there was an age difference of about six to seven years between my immediate elder brother and I. My father was a driver, traveling all over the country. He [...]
People who struggle with mental illnesses are still plagued by stigma and discrimination. It is true that awareness of these diseases is starting to permeate society and seep into crevices once thought impenetrable. Yet we have much further to go; walls of ignorance to break down, deserts of misunderstanding to quench, and mountains of inequality [...]
Like my depression and anxiety, I’ve had small bouts of insomnia all my life that got progressively worse as I got older. It wasn’t until I stopped self-medicating (which I advise against, because it’s only kicking the can down the road and it’ll catch up to you tenfold) and taking my mental health seriously did [...]
Breaking the stigma associated with mental illness includes confronting the misconception surrounding treatment. When I first started taking medication for my depression I was ecstatic. I was finally going to be happy all the time. My doctor told me that it would take at least four weeks for me to notice a difference. I couldn’t [...]
