PPD and PPA. Two seemingly harmless 3 letter acronyms that are mentioned quickly in a one page article in the back of the most read pregnancy book on the market. Two acronyms that my (otherwise wonderful) OB doctor failed to mention to me at all during my 18 combined months of pregnancy. But Postpartum Depression [...]
I recently watched 'Lars and the Real Girl' for the second time and once again was touched by the gentleness of this movie. For those who haven’t seen it, the movie is about a young man who thinks a blow-up sex doll is his real girlfriend. What is so poignant about the movie is how [...]
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 [...]
I avoid talking to strangers! I am never comfortable in unfamiliar company, and wary of half the world it seems! There is one stranger who just won’t let me be, one who I am especially afraid of! She tells me that I am capable of terrible things. I pray to GOD I’m not! She hints [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
I'm sitting, curled up in a ball in the armchair in the living room. Tears are streaming down my face yet I feel scared. I can't control my thoughts. “How am I going to get through this weekend?” “I'm already in a state of high anxiety and depression because this current chronic pain flair won't [...]
On and off since the age of 10, I've been somewhere in the mental healthcare system. That's almost 18 years of treatment (mostly medication) and a whole host of diagnoses: major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and PTSD. Sometimes, it feels as though my life is made up of a series of waves [...]
Last Saturday I attended a birthday party for a friend of mine. At first, I was excited at the idea of a night out without the kids. But, as it got closer to go I started to panic. My thoughts ran wild- a new place, people I don't know, the inevitable dancing that resembles that [...]
