There is no single origin story for mental illness. There are genes and what passes through them; there are early onset signs that may be treated if they weren’t missed or ignored; there are traumas that bring forth something in the brain’s chemistry that wouldn’t have reared its ugly head otherwise; but there is not [...]
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 [...]
When one finds out that a friend has cancer one’s heart breaks. There may not be a cure for the cancer as yet, but damned if people aren’t trying. Everybody has lives that have been touched by cancer - whether family or friend. Heck, for me every Holy Week reminds me of a close family [...]
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 [...]
When the silence is deafening I recently read a statistic that said one in four people in the US experience some type of mental health challenge. This got me thinking, who are the other three? Having experienced a mental health crisis with my son just a couple years ago, I can tell you that from [...]
The Stigma of Depression “It’s all in your head”. Yes, unfortunately it is in my head. And my gastro-intestinal system. And muscles. And my checking account. And the hole that once resided a social life. Manic depression – specifically, and mental health issues in general – takes no prisoners and often solicits little understanding. We [...]
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 [...]
No one is too far away to be cared for, or to care. by Marty Baker "I never know how Fran is doing, not really. She can seem so fragile, so close to the edge, so hurt and hurting ... and then the next moment we are laughing, or mad at each other. I’m learning [...]
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 [...]
THE POST I DON'T KNOW HOW TO WRITE There's a subject that's been mulling around in my head for some time now. It's not an easy one to write about by any means. It's a touchy subject, a private subject, and it's important. My marriage. I haven't written it because I never know how to [...]
