Recently, the hashtag #cut4zayn went rampant on Twitter. There were graphic images of teens actively involved in self harm. The imagery was alarming and triggering to many of us mental health activists. Marisa, the content manager for Stigma Fighters Canada and writer at Mad Girl's Lament reached out to me with an idea. As someone who struggled with self harm for [...]
Living with Mental Illness is like Playing Tennis with a Flat Ball By: Theresa Larsen, author of “Cutting the Soul” Imagine going onto a tennis court on a sunny day to play a game of tennis. You grab your racquet, stretch your arms, and pick up a ball. As you throw the ball in the [...]
I developed harming obsessions when I was 10 years old. The year was 1984 and virtually nothing was publicly known or discussed about the phenomena that today we know to be obsessive compulsive disorder. I was a grubby farm kid walking barefoot through pastures dotted with piles of cow manure and playing with the new batches [...]
Yesterday was a particularly intense day for Stigma Fighters and mental activists throughout the world. #Cut4Zayn trended on Twitter after Zayn Malik left the band One Direction. Teens posts graphic images of self harm in response to Malik's absence from the band. The images were explicit and painful. Stigma Fighters responded to the global event [...]
My dad was slowly changing before my eyes. He turned inward, he became quieter, more detached. he stopped asking me questions and stopped listening when I told him about my day. Instead of playing with me on the weekends he would take naps. He stopped smiling and the light went out of his eyes. I [...]
“The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice.” ― Peggy O'Mara We all have those nagging voices in the back of our heads. "The sink splashed me at work and I look like I peed myself! Now I'll never get a promotion." "Get in shape! Preferably one that isn't round and covered [...]
We all know how people talk when there’s news of a suicide; “He was so successful and funny. He must not have known how many people loved him.” Sometimes you’ll hear the less sympathetic words like “cowardly” or oversimplified sayings like the popular “suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.” Here’s the thing- [...]
There is nothing more difficult than living with a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder Type II, and then adding to that the “loss” of your child. Yes, I adopted my daughter out. I wrote about the adoption before, and you can read that essay here (http://stigmafigters.com/stigma-fighters-bittersweet-love). I have been hesitant to reveal who I am for [...]
My Name is Jasmin Pierre. I am from New Orleans, Louisiana and I am 26 years old. When my parents divorced, I was five. I was raised in Louisville, Kentucky for 12 years by my mother. It wasn't until about the age of 17 I started feeling different. Some days I just didn't feel like myself [...]
At nine-years-old, I began throwing up involuntarily and missed over a month of school. Physicians threw test after test at me to make sure I was medically okay, while a psychologist tossed peculiar questions in my direction and had me play with babyish toys. Such rigorous investigations led experts to conclude that while something was [...]
