Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Psyche.
Couples Massage Therapy.
What is a Couples Massage Therapy? You and your partner share two separate beds, and each receives a massage. A couple massage is a good thing. Two massage therapists are available, one for each individual. Like any other massage, Couples Massage Therapy might offer relaxing music, aromatherapy, or candle lighting. Sometimes massages are provided as presents among loving relationships.
By Richard Berlin5 years ago in Psyche
Wearable Weapons
I bought 75 pounds of TSA confiscated scissors from eBay. It was 2008 and I was preparing for my MFA thesis project. I was in NYC completing my creative degree 7 years after the Twin Towers had fallen and TSA had made a bunch of new rules to protect us all from the threat of “Weapons of Mass Destruction.” Does having our scissors and other sharp objects confiscated from our bags, suitcases and purses help keep us all safe?
By Carrie Mae Rose5 years ago in Psyche
A Few Things I Wish I Could Tell My Younger Self About My OCD
Chances are that if you are a breathing human being, and are currently reading this article you might have had at least a few regrets in your life. It could have been about that one relationship you should’ve held on to or that one career decision you shouldn’t have taken.
By Lumos Leviosa5 years ago in Psyche
Do people who write about Mental Health have it all figured out?
I mostly write about my struggle with OCD, and I often end up giving some insights in my articles about how to cope up with OCD. When I read my articles that have been published, I cannot help but feel that I and the girl who writes these articles are two different people altogether. Sometimes I feel as if I have this motivational, sunny side of me and then there’s the other drab, colorless side that decides to make an entrance every now and then. Today I was pounded by quite a few thought-provoking questions:
By Lumos Leviosa5 years ago in Psyche
Tales from an OCD Mind
I do not like the person that I have become, I don’t even know what I like or don’t like anymore. Who am I, as a person? What do I value? It seems as if everything has been stripped away from me. Nothing makes sense anymore, and the things which aren’t supposed to make any sense in life are those that plague me day and night with a horrendous intensity.
By Lumos Leviosa5 years ago in Psyche
Rare Mental Disorders You Have Probably Never Heard Of
A mental disorder can refer to a wide range of health conditions that involve changes in thinking, emotions, or behavior. We’re all familiar with some of them — anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and dementia. However, there are others that are extremely rare and you’ve probably never even heard of them.
By Margaret Pan5 years ago in Psyche
The Shadow Creeping In
The shadow, the dark, the bleakness of the demon on my shoulders. Pushing me under the stillness of the water, forcing me into the depths of my mind. Even though I’m surrounded by the light the darkness takes over. My eyes become tunneled and fixed and all the awful feelings come flooding in, causing me to take deeper breaths and receiving little air. This demon knows me well, it knows where to poke and prod and to get maximum torture in my mind, an expert of its craft. It lets me become clear for moments at a time. Then it pushes me under, again and again, sinking its jagged teeth into my thoughts making my vision darker showing little to no light. The memories come flooding in to provoke a response, tears begin flooding from my eyes. My chest begins to contract and ache with the weight of my burdens to bear. Regrets pile in from the past and familiar faces of those I wronged whisper in my ears “you're to blame”. “ This is your fault”.
By Ian J Roberts 5 years ago in Psyche
The girl who doesn't talk
The first time it happened, I was very young. I had just started grade one and I had arrived late to school that morning and found myself standing in the corridor outside the activity room - a teacher either side of me. The junior school assembly had begun and I was meant to be in there, singing ‘Waltzing Matilda’ with the rest of my class. But I was here, my feet glued to the grey linoleum floor, staring straight ahead like a startled rabbit. The teachers were asking me how I had arrived at school and the more they probed, the more I shut down. I was literally frozen with fear, my words were trapped beneath a painful lump in my throat. ‘You must have got here somehow’, one of the teachers said, ‘did you fly here?’ Suddenly I felt her hand on me, turning my stiff little body. Peering around at my back she said, ‘I can't see any wings. Can you see any wings Miss ‘so and so?’ ‘Nope no wings’, replied the other teacher, glancing at my back. I can’t recall what happened after that nor do I recall why I was late that day. What I do remember clearly is the sensation of being completely incapacitated in that moment. I was experiencing a condition called selective mutism (SM) - an acute anxiety response that paralyses the vocal cords, occurring in select situations (typically at school).
By Jania Williams5 years ago in Psyche
I never really fit in
I’ve never really fit in. I was always the nerdy kid with his nose stuck in a book reading the stories because I wished I was living those stories. I was the teenager who wore the black trenchcoat before it became infamous to do so, because it was a way to protect myself from all the jocks and preps who decided the geeky outsider needed to be picked on each day. Even as an adult, I find it hard to fit in. Forget small talk. I really don’t know do it all that well. With my conversations, we either go deep or I go home.
By Taylor Ellwood5 years ago in Psyche
