The moment I was sat in my room on the bed and the only thing I could see was the stack of tablets in front of me. I overdosed on antidepressants and other household drugs such as paracetamol. Luckily for me the combination was not toxic enough to kill me before I was found by [...]
Have you ever had someone say something hurtful to you and it stick with you all day long? It's hard enough dealing with one person saying hurtful things to you, but to deal with yourself is a totally different matter. That's what my depression is. It's the voices of my two worst enemies berating me [...]
Anxiety Is My Super Power By Shari J. Ryan Sometimes, I care too much about silly things. Silly things like the weather, making mistakes, or whether or not someone likes the person I am or the books I write. I think the way I am may be considered unhealthy to some. However, telling me not [...]
Years of self-deprecation and chronic embitterment gave me pause, and I withheld my Stigma Fighters submission for a week, maybe two, before I finally sent it. Who are you to be glorious, loved, appreciated? You’re not important. You’re damaged goods. Then my ego, viciously overcompensating for my id, chimed in, Besides, who would gain anything [...]
WRITE POETRY, HE SAID At age 38, I was dancing and singing at the top of my lungs in my second-storey apartment, while my two young children slept peacefully in their bedrooms. The year was 1984 and I had no idea my brain was rattling and clanging inside as I experienced my first manic-psychotic episode. [...]
Mental Illness is my mother By A. When I was asked to write for Stigma Fighters by Sarah Fader, I was a bit baffled at first. I don’t suffer from mental illness myself. I thought about it though and decided that maybe, just maybe, there were other people like me. Others who were raised in [...]
What does an anxiety attack feel like? When Sarah Fader first asked me to write for Stigma Fighters a few weeks ago, I initially felt a sudden rush of pride and excitement. I pictured how liberating it would be to finally go public in discussing my anxiety attacks after having bottled it up inside for [...]
I'll be honest about it: This is the most difficult thing I've ever had to write. Not because I'm afraid of what others will think of me or my illness, but rather what I think about it. But each time, I've had an episode of depression or mania, I refused to give in. One thing [...]
Bleed By Aleccia Lin Shaffer A timeline of pain is written across the skin I hide from public sight... With pilfered razor blades as a quill and my body as parchment, I wrote out the stories of the hurt I had endured. It was easier to bleed out the shame I felt for who I [...]
My life, since I was eight years old, has been a roller coaster of emotions. I was bullied badly in school, up until I got into the 11th grade, and then I simply changed my persona to be 'a bad ass', but in reality, I was so anxious of people's reactions. I was molested by [...]
