Living with mental illness
Sara Stringer shares her experience as an intern working with a man named Ned. Ned, diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, befriended Sara until he became paranoid she would deceive him. She shares what she learned.
Stay with me into the depth
Julie Everson shares two poems from the depth of her pain and anguish, finally shining light on the darkest places in her. She feels her mental illness is trapping her in a cage and though she doesn’t know the level of recovery she can achieve, she is grateful for words to help her escape. She feels there are others suffering as she does, feeling alone in their own world. She writes to reach out to you.
Having Trichotillomania
University student, blogger, and mental health advocate Skye McAdams shares:
“Having Trichotillomania, at first, is like living on an isolated island in the middle of nowhere – that even the idea of trying to describe such a metaphorical island is a tad pointless because no one will find or see it. Yet I guess that’s what it’s like trying to describe to people that you have Trich; it seems utterly pointless because people stare at you as if you are either a nutter, weird or someone making a fuss out of nothing. I mean, how do you tell people that you sit in front of a bathroom mirror, for up to an hour, strategically deciding which eyelash to pull out next to satisfy the anxious voice in your head because you’ve made a mess of trying to pull out that one particular lash for a long time now?!”
She also writes about how the symptoms are easily dismissed as a “bad habit” and how she’s been “pull free” for 2 years.
Navigating the waters of anxiety
Bethany Rosselit was living in constant fear; she was terrified of losing her job, not paying the bills, losing her husband, fear for her daughter’s future and that she wasn’t a good enough parent. Longing for a life that felt safe a secure, she would escape into food, novels and movies to avoid facing her fears. Bethany discovers that her false beliefs and need for approval are what needed to change.
Borderline personality disorder; 100 forms of fear
Dionne Tyler shares her experience with Borderline Personality Disorder by showing you through the written word how it feels.