Reducing the stigma around mental health
By Anonymous Almost three months on from the lowest point for you in 7 years, we are starting to leave the depths of the valley. I will never forget that first night. That night you sent me to bed because I had been ill. The night that changed our relationship. Continue Reading
By Mark Williams If you had asked me in 2003 whether depression exists I couldn’t have told you an answer, until it came to my door the following year. It was after having a panic attack in the labour ward after thinking both my wife and unborn baby were going Continue Reading
By Alan D.D. I’ve suffered from depression since I was a teenager. It all came to be because of problems I cannot speak about (yet, one day I’ll do it), and I admit that doing it now may help, but I’m just not sure. School didn’t help. I tried going Continue Reading
By Amysboarderlineworld When things start to get busy or life gets tough self care seems to be the first thing to go. I’ve written this post, 25 self care ideas I have used, to hopefully help with that. Self care is a necessity Self care for me was always seen as Continue Reading
By Anonymous Recently, it was my birthday. My partner is struggling with depression, and the recent news that this is his condition and he may be on antidepressants for life. He always used to worry that a label like this would stop me loving him. As though putting a label Continue Reading
By Becky Barton Mental illness carries a stigma that professionals and patients alike fight daily to abolish. Despite the available statistics on suicide, suicide seems to be one issue that many people hesitate to discuss or acknowledge. But sweeping it under the rug does not make the problem disappear. In Continue Reading
By Chris J N My medication has taken away part of me With a diagnosis of bipolar, anxiety, psychosis and paranoia and the help of a psychiatrist and mental health nurse and the community mental health team and a multitude of medications, I thought I was on the path to Continue Reading
By Tina Blacksmith I grew up in a broken home. That in itself took a huge toll on me. Between the physical and emotional abuse, I was a nervous wreck, always on the lookout. Fast forward years later to 2017. I’d like to say it’s all sunshine and rainbows but that Continue Reading
By Amysboarderlineworld I have high functioning depression and I have suffered with mental health issues most of my life. But when I finally gained the confidence to begin talking about it and telling others I had it, I was more often than not met with comments such as “Wow, I would never Continue Reading
By Nicola Anne When I asked my husband to describe me in three words… That was his response. Beautiful. Brilliant. Crazy. Bypassed in the chaos I think mental health awareness is often focused so heavily on the sufferer, that the people around them, the ones who are watching someone they love Continue Reading
My husband has depression and I didn’t know for the longest time.
That was hard to write, because while this isn’t about me, I can’t tell you how bad I feel for failing to support him enough in those first few lonely months.
Ash Beckham offers a fresh approach to empathy and openness. It starts with understanding that everyone, at some point in their life, has experienced hardship. The only way out, says Beckham, is to open the door and step out of your closet.