Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Psyche.
A Chill in the House
I have never fully known why it is that he does it. How he is able to be so two-faced. Nobody else would believe me. I don't know why but I wasn't able to do anything about it. The things he would do while nobody else was home. Occasionally, I imagine what it would have been like if he hadn't been in the picture. What if I had just been without a father? I didn’t tell my mother because I didn’t want her to have to make such a difficult decision. Whether she should leave him. Now, I realize that it was something I shouldn't have been thinking about. I agree with that, I really do, but every time it’s on my mind I wonder. I do it all the time really. It’s something that can drive someone insane.
By Andrew Walters6 years ago in Psyche
Losing Your Rights at the Loony Bin
I had the unfortunate experience of being locked up against my will in a psychiatric institution. Here are the series of events that led up to that incarceration. Yes, that's what I call it as that to me is EXACTLY what it was. I was put in a room (cell), held against my will, and had my freedoms taken from me. I was threatened with longer term incarceration for being quiet, which I was told was my right to do so, for dropping a cell phone four inches onto a padded chair and more. If you do not think for one moment that the under-privileged and minorities, mainly our black and brown (darker-skinned) brothers and sisters can be and are mistreated, THINK AGAIN. If I as a PRIVILEGED, WHITE WOMAN WAS and can be treated this way JUST IMAGINE how minorities can be treated by those who have prejudice in their hearts.
By Sassy Lady Ava G6 years ago in Psyche
They Don't Understand
They Don't Understand Gabreil Chilson 07-17-2020 *Trigger Warning and Strong Meaning * *Mental Illness* People can love you and not understand you at all. And that is awful. Truly awful. You may rather have someone who hates you because they do not understand. That would be easier. It's frustrating to know that they care but yet can't seem to grasp even a single thing that's going on inside our heads. They want what's best for you but they can't understand that we are trying our best. There is nothing more that we can do and just their recognition for our small victories and efforts would provide clarity and happiness. Somehow they still don't understand that. They talk, they advise, they push you thinking they are helping us. Yet in the world of us, they have just pushed us over the edge of the active volcano. Of which we have been tottering for so long. After we have broke open and exploded they will get mad. "I do a lot of things for you, you are not responsible, you are lazy, you can do better, you this- you that." They know nothing of the war we fight within our own minds. A war which we can not see the end of, as if this is how life is. There is no light at the end of the tunnel, no finish line to get closer to, no victory to look forward to. We are fighting in an endless black abyss and each battle threatens to end it all.
By Gabreil Chilson6 years ago in Psyche
The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Competence
Emotional intelligence refers to a person’s ability to accurately understand and assess his or her feelings. It involves being acutely aware of how one responds to different situations as well as how other responds to one’s actions. It involves the desire/motivation to resist impulsive actions or utterances that may cause relational tensions or conflicts (such as anger-motivated verbal outbursts). Therefore, emotional intelligence constitutes people’s capacity for self-motivation, knowledge, and understanding of personal feelings. In addition, it includes the ability to regulate/manage one’s feelings in various social contexts. It also enables to recognize the emotions of others as well as the ability to handle interpersonal relationships.
By Alice Grey6 years ago in Psyche
Cynicism
Growing up isn’t always easy. Learning about life & fighting the everyday struggles. Approaching someone new, you hear their words & you question their intent. Overtime you grow to find interest, but they start to ask for favors. You worry their intentions are more self reliant.
By The Kind Quill6 years ago in Psyche
Chaotic Absolute And A Beautiful Torment
Chaotic Absolute And A Beautiful Torment That perfect absolute moment when I realized that I was more insanely more terrified of losing my son than of the simplicity of death itself, and that I loved him more than anyone I have had ever loved before, or ever will. I love him more than I could ever love myself, it’s a scary, calm, beautiful, easy love. I could stare death in the eye and ask him to please hurry along, but the simplest thought of losing my son, the soul that helped save me just by making his way into this world, who’s laugh made everything in me feel pure and right, who’s perfect happiness puts a smile on my face, and absolutely nothing on heaven or earth could compare to. My one right was the most perfect version of himself without ever trying or needing.
By Allison Stevenson6 years ago in Psyche
Love Yourself
There are so many reasons each day to feel badly, not including physical ailments. As someone who has been contending with Bipolar Disorder for the past 18 years, I feel I am pretty experienced when it comes to dealing with emotions and emotional breakdowns. It's a strange phenomena and it happens to everyone, even if you are not diagnosed with a mental illness. It could be a perfectly good day, sun shining, bills paid, no problems confronting you, yet you feel awful and you don't know why. You have a voice in your head telling you that you're not good enough or that something you usually love about yourself is invalid. This is when women start whining and saying "I'm too fat," or "I'm too stupid," or "I'm too whatever," and they feed their depression because they have lost the will to battle. They just want to surrender and relax. They don't want to win anymore. It's not just women, it happens with men too, but stereotypically women are better at expressing their emotions than men.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman6 years ago in Psyche
Schizophrenia
I was completely aware when I entered my psychotic state. I was walking through this crowd of students at my highschool between classes in 2008. I was 17 when I felt like the pressure had been let out of my head. It felt like a gas was escaping my mind as I slowed to a halt in the midst of these moving students. I couldn’t remember anything. I didn’t know where I was or where I was going or what my name was. I felt lost and I started to cry. They called my parents because I was standing in the middle of the quad way into the class period. I went home. I stopped eating, I stopped sleeping, I couldn’t talk or form thoughts but I was very aware of all this as it was going on. It felt like I had lost control of some function.
By Jose Arguelles6 years ago in Psyche
