Latest Stories

Most recently published stories in Psyche.

How to Love Yourself
Right now, I don’t like words, and I don’t like writing. I’ve spent entirely too long trying to craft an elegant passage in order to share just one message. Love yourself. Why is that so hard to do? And why is it even harder for me to explain? Probably because I’m no more an expert on self-love than a two-year-old is at using a toilet. But at least the two-year-old and I are both trying.
By Luke Haddad5 years ago in Psyche
Rehab's Finest
“What’d you write about?” asks Ron who’s holding a steaming styrofoam cup, lightly stirring it with shaky hands. “Just some more stuff they wanna hear,” mutters Louis under his breath, half-heartedly holding a pencil to a black notebook.
By Ty Tatum5 years ago in Psyche
Be Careful What You Wish For
I thought that I could understand the world, that I could grasp it in my hands and manipulate it, the way my family taught me since I was a child.
By Eva Myers5 years ago in Psyche
Do Good and Communicate
Everyone around me seems to have busy days full of work and success. I don’t mean to sound insensitive. I know it can feel monotonous. But at the end of the week, they can say they worked and made money and lived just like everyone else.
By Luke Haddad5 years ago in Psyche
More Important Than My Fears
Struggling with Schizoaffective disorder has resulted in me doing and saying a lot of things that I regret. The most impactful but least notable was when I yelled at my brother four years ago. I know he’s going to read this, and I want him to know this is an explanation of progress and not a confession to lingering guilt. I’m proud of how far I’ve come.
By Luke Haddad5 years ago in Psyche
Gaslight and Tea
Gaslighting. You would need to have been living under a rock to not have heard that word being thrown around quite a lot lately.
By J. K. Cook5 years ago in Psyche
Death's Children
At the bottom of the ocean is a mirror. In this mirror is an old man, and we call him death. He is not the cruel reaper we have imagined. He is sad and tired, and the innocent and the guilty alike find themselves swathed in his dark embrace.
By Lia Mercado5 years ago in Psyche
Isolation
The sun blared through the open blinds as the maddening tapping from melting snow obliterated the young student’s train of thought every minute or so. The beautiful day taunted her as she sat in the poorly lit cave of a bedroom. As an insufferably happy couple passed the window, their unsettlingly bright smiles and annoyingly excited voices nearly pushed her to give up on trying to work all together. Just one more page of notes and she would take a break. She attempted to force herself to pay attention to teh meaning of each word.
By Yanna Ferrance5 years ago in Psyche
The Figure
The Figure The figure stepped backwards into the dark recesses of the room. The sound of the number, “nineteen,” fading along with it. Andrés blinked over and over, trying to make out what he had just seen. His eyelids began to twitch as he transitioned back and forth from a series of blinks to squinting, to see if anyone was there. He reached out to his girlfriend, but she was not there. It had been a while since she was there next to him and at times he wondered if she was ever there at all. He reached over and turned on the lamp that was sitting on top of his nightstand, next to his bed. The darkness scattered from the room and revealed that, indeed, neither Vero nor anyone else was in the room with him. He replayed the experience in his head. He could only see contours of a human-like shape dissolving from his limited field of view. There was some semblance of light coming in from his window, but it was still dark out and his curtains were not drawn.
By Andrew Jacob5 years ago in Psyche
Twins
Juli eyed the paper warily. Its corner had been tucked just under the succulent on the window sill, the window with the curtains she never opened.
By Sean McMullin5 years ago in Psyche
The Doctor, the Diner, and the Dream
The chime alerted Eleanor as the door flew open, and the roar of severe downpour interrupted the calm and quiet. She looked up from the counter where she sipped her coffee and played a game on her phone. The man who entered shook rain off his umbrella and examined his blazer. He trudged up the steps, and Eleanor pulled her mask over her nose.
By Lo Mitchell5 years ago in Psyche
Mental Health Awareness among Nigerian Adolescents
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines an adolescent as any individual between the ages of 10 and 19. The WHO also refers to people between the ages of 10 and 24 as young people. In addition, the Merriam-Webster dictionary explains adolescence as the period of life when a child develops into an adult, that is, the period from puberty to maturity terminating legally at the age of adulthood. For the purpose of this article, we will consider adolescence as between the ages of 10 and 24. Having established these meanings, it is important that we weigh in on the relevance of mental health awareness among adolescents.
By Mary Adeola Scott5 years ago in Psyche