Free The first time I thought about killing myself, I was seven or eight years old. My parents had recently separated. With their separation, the thin film that had kept me from falling into a dark hole wore through. In fact, I had reoccurring dreams about it, about a hole, in our front yard, sucking [...]
When I was a child, I was told to fear strangers; that they were the threat to my innocence. Unfortunately, I was never told that real danger would come from someone in my own family. When I was 10 years old, my great grandfather molested me. It wasn’t enough that he stole my innocence from me, [...]
Darkness surrounds me and I feel as though I can’t breathe. All I want to do is sleep and cry, but then I see a light at the end of the tunnel. I try to get up, but it’s like something is holding me down so I can’t move. I try to move but it [...]
Is admitting being a victim of child sexual abuse courageous? There are times I doubt this power as I look at myself in the mirror. I am still remarkably human. The hair fades in color and quantity. The waist still expands as if my stomach had a mind of its own. I still have flaws, [...]
This Is What Depression Looks Like Earlier this year, I came off of my antidepressant medication. It was a poorly thought out decision, (I have a pretty difficult history with depression and mental illness), and I did it cold turkey, even though I knew better. Still, I thought I’d be okay. I wasn’t okay. The [...]
A trigger warning to those whose lives have been touched by suicide. This is a very raw, honest account of my suicide attempt in mid-2012. These are thoughts and feelings I had in the moments leading up to my suicide attempt. This in no way, shape, or form represents my current state of mind today. [...]
To The Journey: My Road to Understanding Mental Illness Despite many people perceiving bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses as a struggle or hardship, over time, I have come to embrace the life lessons that they can teach. I would briefly like to elucidate and describe these lessons. I have truly been touched by a [...]
Hey, my name's Josh. I go by the name of Smiiffy. I'm a twenty year old musician from Birmingham in the UK. I aim to stop the stigma on mental health and in order to do this, I speak about my own mental health issues. For around 4 years I've suffered with severe anxiety and [...]
As many of you surely know, being visitors of this webpage, fighting the stigma of mental illness is the top priority of both Stigma Fighters, and of a little video I directed and produced on YouTube titled “It’s Real”. The founder of Stigma Fighters, Sarah Fader, approached me on writing a piece for you guys on [...]
My Survival Story In the midst of one the worst depressive episodes I had ever endured I made the decision to end my life. I was meticulous in the details and in the execution of my plan. Depression told me that I was worthless, a failure in all aspects of my life. Repeating poor choice [...]
