By Anon When you hear about mental health problems, the stigma instantly makes you think bad things. However, when I’ve opened up to my friends about my struggles with anxiety, their first response is ‘Oh, but you seem like you’ve got it together.’ Owning my anxiety helps me cope. A Continue Reading
You Don’t Overcome Depression, You Simply Get Better At Handling It
By Gabriela One thing that no one understands, is that my mental illness will never just disappear. It is a part of me, and I am stuck with it for life. It has become my best friend, and my worst enemy, all at once. I have no way of putting Continue Reading
The Problem With Anxiety
By Elli The problem with anxiety is that you never know when it will pop up. This is why, two weeks ago, I opened my notebook and wrote this to you. I was fine, then felt the signs of anxiety I’ll level with you. I’m feeling anxious. Right now as Continue Reading
Reflection – Letting go of the past
By Tina Blacksmith “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” – Søren Kierkegaard This year, I have started letting go of the past and making an effort to heal. My letter is part of that reflection. It feels like one of those “two steps forward, Continue Reading
A Performer with an Anxiety Disorder
By Gabriela I was once asked a question that got me thinking. It made me take a deeper look at myself and the complexity of anxiety disorder. The question was this: How can you be a performer that gets up in front of hundreds of people without a problem, yet have an anxiety disorder? My type Continue Reading
Police Officers & Those in a Mental Health Crisis
By Shirley Davis Introduction There is considerable media coverage in the United States of what has been termed police brutality towards those who live with mental health conditions. I have watched this with growing concern. In my opinion much of what occurs directly correlates to the training officers receive. And there is a vast Continue Reading
My Angel and My Demon
By Amysboardlineworld I have mentioned before about how I feel like my mental health issues are my Angel and my Demon. They sit there, one on each shoulder, with me all the time. My Angel is the logical, positive me that wants the best for me and fights for it. Continue Reading
I Accept Who I Am With a Mental Illness
By Gabriela It doesn’t matter how medicated I am or how much therapy I do, I will always have depression and anxiety as my right and left hand men. They don’t magically disappear. Instead, I accept who I am, and they become manageable – but ya, sometimes the thought of Continue Reading
When Your Locus is Out of Control
By Shirley Davis Locus of control is a state of mind where we place our belief in how the outcomes of our lives internally or externally. Looking for someone else to make us happy is external locus of control, and a recipe for disaster. Looking inward for control over our Continue Reading
‘The Flight of the Bumblebee’ – A Story about Life with Mental Illness
By Catherine Neish If you were going to write a book about your life, what would be the title? Who would you want to read it? Would you cover anything up? Would you expose an area of your life into the light? I want to lend you a story: ‘The Continue Reading
Thoughts on Suicide
By Wendy K. Williamson The unfortunate truth is many of us either have a mental illness or know someone who does, and suicide can be part of that reality. No longer is it an isolated case of the one person you knew in high school; today, it touches us within Continue Reading
Surviving mental illness
By Samuel Cridland Everyone knows growing up is tough. Unfortunately growing up is tougher for some than it is for others, particularly those of us who are surviving mental illness. Through my teenage years I found it incredibly difficult to survive in the education system, due to the social groupings Continue Reading