Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Psyche.
An Ocean Metaphor
The first metaphor I ever found helpful in coping with my brain was in an Outline piece written by Anna Borges, which you can find here. In it, Borges talks about passive suicidality, explaining her experience of struggling with wanting to live. She says that she is not always that attached to being alive, and when I read those words for the first time, I cried. I felt seen, heard, known. For a few years, I’d read through it periodically, letting the wave of relief wash over me once more. Nearing the end of 2020, however, the metaphor of treading water in the middle of the ocean ceased to be accurate enough. I was and am suffering from more than major depression. This meant that I had to tweak the metaphor to fit me a bit better. And so, I made Borges’ elegant analogy into a hot, convoluted, mess.
By K.E. Diller5 years ago in Psyche
The Allure of a Label
When I was first seeking a true diagnosis, back in December of 2020, I found myself clinging to a list of possible mental illnesses that could be the source of my symptom. Much like when I realized I was not straight, I felt like I needed a label to understand and justify myself. I landed on bisexual, was desperate for a generalized anxiety disorder diagnosis, and leaned heavily on my desire to be an academic. Fast forward to a month or two ago and you’d have found me drafting this piece for the first and most certainly not last time. Then, I wanted to write about person-first and identity-first language. I wanted to air more grievances about not having identity-first language for my borderline personality disorder or my schizoaffective disorder. I’m more than an anxious person or a queer person, but I don’t have words that describe the other identities. I’ve been searching for descriptors, all the while ignoring the terms disabled and chronically ill. Enter my newest therapist, who needed only one session to pin me squarely in the label-lover category.
By K.E. Diller5 years ago in Psyche
Take My Brain--Please!
What goes on in my brain? I’m not a neuropsychologist or a researcher, but I am in a unique position of having sustained at least four traumatic brain injuries, plus meningitis, which is an acquired brain injury. I will live with the consequences of those injuries for the rest of my life. Most of the time, it’s ‘no biggie’.
By Catherine Kenwell5 years ago in Psyche
If you can gift yourself only one thing this year, Write a note
At my worst moments, I often find myself stuck in a whirlpool of negativity. It feels like a maze that I can’t escape. I find myself struggling, searching for a hand, ladder, rope, something that would help me get out.
By Debdutta Pal5 years ago in Psyche
LEMONAID Health
I've struggled with my mental health for most of my life. Considering all things, I've been pretty lucky though. For quite some time I'd been able to manage things without outside assistance, but over the past year my anxiety has become completely overwhelming and out of control. And as most individuals who have anxiety and depression know the vicious cycle of these two feeding off of each other. I either spent days oversleeping or not able to sleep at all because I couldn't turn my brain off. Eating was extreme or nonexistent. And for the first time in a very long time I had the desire to hurt myself again, mostly in the form of scratching my skin (sometimes to the point of bleeding) to help calm my worst anxiety attacks. One night as I stood in line at CVS to buy extra large Band-Aids, normally a completely inconspicuous item but somehow felt dirty like I couldn't let other people know what I was buying--and more specifically why I was buying them--, to cover the deep scratches on my thigh that I finally admitted to myself that I needed help.
By L. M. Williams5 years ago in Psyche
How to Decide if you need a Personal Trainer or a Life Coach
Hiring a personal trainer is something many of us do to give ourselves the push we need to get fit and healthy. It’s not always easy to find the motivation to put on a pair of gym shoes and conduct your own workout routine in the gym.
By Jack Johnson5 years ago in Psyche
XOXO Part 3- One Day At A Time
“One day at a time.” I have heard that saying so many times studying substance abuse through college; heard it a lot in a court program that I was forced into at the age of 21 (I had a few rough teenage years but thankfully I was able to erase that part of my life; this, however, I couldn’t be so lucky). They speak of taking one day at a time because the pull of addiction is so strong that even making it through the day is an accomplishment.
By The Good Wives Guide to True Crime5 years ago in Psyche
