Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Psyche.
The Monster
She is pacing steady and harmlessly along the perimeter of our manufactured pond just outside my home. The sky is so ominous with a deep winter hue. I can see her from the window. I hide behind my computer, pretending I have not seen her there. She distracts herself by throwing rocks along the frozen surface, keeping suspicions low and uneventful. Her movements are calculated and very intentional. I don't know if she is waiting to see if I will walk out the door or when to invite herself over. Her timing has always been at my worst conveniences, this time being no different.
By Evalyn Jayne5 years ago in Psyche
What Depression Feels Like
When it gets bad, all I can do is hold on and trust that it will be over. There’s no “looking on the bright side” or “finding things to be grateful for”. When you’ve been held under water for too long and you’re desperate to take a big gasp of air, it’s not helpful for a scuba diver to swim past with a sign that says “Just imagine how good breathing feels.” It’s past that - it’s pure survival.
By Camille Walrath5 years ago in Psyche
Please Don't Hurt Me
Please don’t hurt me. Those words repeated over and over again in my head. Please don’t. Please don’t. Please. I grew up in a home of fear. Behind every corner lurked another danger. Sometimes it was my brother. His OCD had gotten bad again and seeing his panic would snap me back to the times when I was little and I would accidentally touch something I wasn’t supposed to, and he would scream and scream and scream at me. Other times it was my dad. He’d be boiling over with the rage he kept holed up inside of him until he exploded, ready to lay on me all my faults and shortcomings. Most of the time it was my mom. Her expectations, guilt trips, and scalding tone would send me reeling back into a childlike state where all I could think were those four words.
By L. J. Knight 5 years ago in Psyche
To My Younger Self
Have you ever thought back to your younger years (I'm 41 now), and thought, 'I wish I wasn't so hard on myself then.' Or 'I wish I had've had more confidence in how I looked, and who I was'? I'll probably look back in another 20 or 30 years time (providing I make it that far), and say the same thing again about myself now. I'm still the frightened, self-conscious person I was, then, but I'm generally really happy, and I'm in a good place. Of course, we can never alter the past, but there are times when I wish the younger me could've seen that things would work out just fine. Imagine if you wrote her a letter. What would she think?
By Deborah Robinson5 years ago in Psyche
Mental Health
A lot of attention concerning mental health was brought about when Olympic athlete Simone Biles talked about the importance of her own mental health while performing at the Olympics this year. If you have a mental illness it not only affects you, but it affects everyone around you.
By Lilli Adams5 years ago in Psyche
Tips for becoming a better listener
These tips are offered by me as someone who was trained as a Samaritans volunteer (“To Befriend the Suicidal and Despairing”) a number of years ago but who has not been an active volunteer for some time. However, the art of listening, once acquired, is not easily lost, and I hope that the following will be of some use to anyone who finds themselves in the situation of being a sounding-board for a friend or relative (or even a complete stranger) whose world has fallen apart for one reason or another.
By John Welford5 years ago in Psyche
