Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Psyche.
Boys' Silent Battle with Eating Disorders
As a young woman, I’m made very aware of the social pressures that women face in terms of body image. Like most, I’ve kept an eye on my girlfriends and watched out for signs, such as restlessness and refusal to eat, that all hint at a potentially dangerous eating habit. However, last week, as I was scrolling through Instagram, I guiltily wondered why I hadn’t been as concerned with how my male friends perceive themselves.
By Grace Benson6 years ago in Psyche
The Steep Price of Depression (Pt. 2)
The Oscar-Worthy Performance One of the most frustrating misconceptions of depression is that depressed people should be visually sad or emotional, or even worse, depressed people are just attention seekers. I think every time I would hear one of these statements during my “dark days,” a piece of my heart died from the sheer ignorance to the issue. Nothing could be found further from the truth. People suffering from depression often make it their life’s mission to hide what’s going on inside by almost creating a separate identity of themselves. They do this almost like an actor who embraces becoming a different person for a role. In all honesty, I learned to perfect this “alternative character” of myself in almost Oscar-Worthy proportions.
By Nathan Scot Wells6 years ago in Psyche
Chicken and Cheddar Cheese
Disclaimer: I am not an accredited nutritionist, researcher, or mental health professional. Everything within this article is pure speculation based on brief research, and without personal examination and consultation with a few professionals, I cannot say that anything here should be taken as fact.
By Wandering Wonderer6 years ago in Psyche
Lost & Found
THINGS WOULD NEVER BE THE SAME I remember the cold Melbourne winter night that I woke up with a jolt and sat bolt upright with sweat dripping off my brow and the feeling of my heart beating out of my chest. Was I having a heart attack? I'd always been one of the lucky ones who would go to bed late and sleep through the night solidly and wake up feeling refreshed, so to wake up in such a way was enough to start my mind racing.
By Matt Lawson6 years ago in Psyche
Life with Abusive Parents
Living with abusive families can really mess up a person. With a mom who is never there because of a man or work and a dad who bailed right after you were born, living with grandma and mom should be fun, right? Since mom is always at work or with a man, but no, it sometimes is not fun. At times it’s fine but at other times it is terrible. Grandmas are supposed to be loving and fun, but when you have an abusive grandmother, life can be hell. When she is always saying stuff like you can’t do anything right or you’re a hippo, life just isn’t worth living. It can be very hard to push through and continue living.
By Maria Johnson6 years ago in Psyche
One Peppermint Starlight
In January of 2000 I became unemployed. My anxiety and depression had taken its toll and the inevitable happened; I lost my job. I just couldn't function anymore. It was a burnout type job anyway, and I think a lot of people would have struggled under the pressure of taking 525 calls a day. Some are built for that, but in retrospect there is no way I could have handled that. Me, a person with Asperger's syndrome, a social disorder characterized in part as being socially impaired, and for some having a sensitivity to noise, having to interact with over 525 people a day, and in an environment that is very noisy, trying to deal with this situation it was safe to say it was too tall of a task for me to handle. And yet I tried. It is what I do. I take an aspect of my personality and challenge it. My first job had been as a vendor at the Oakland Coliseum. I was out there amongst 25,000 people a night in my brown uniform sticking out like a sore thumb yelling, "ice cream malts here," or soda, or hot dogs, it varied from day to day. And although this went against my nature, and it went against my strengths, there was always a part of me that could not handle being different or having a chink in the armor so to speak, so I would challenge it when I could. Some challenges I would brave and take, and some I would shrink from. But as much I shrank and ran from challenges, I have to give myself credit and admit that I often took them on as well. This time I failed miserably and was out of a job.
By Marc Sander6 years ago in Psyche
The Paths We Take
I’m at a weird point of my life. I turned 23 a week ago, and I’ll be honest: It rattled me a little bit. It scared me. 22 sounded so young still, so, free. 23 has an older sound to it, I know that sounds crazy, but it’s really made me think. Should I be on a different path?
By Adam Hayton6 years ago in Psyche
The Monster in the Mirror
Body dysmorphic disorder is a condition that most of us can relate to or have experienced to some degree. Everyone has something that they dislike or would gladly change about their physical appearance, and the fact that they can’t may bring certain levels of discomfort or distress. Though, for an increasing number of us, body dysmorphia is a condition so malevolent that it has debilitating effects on a person’s everyday life, to the point where it completely consumes them and dominates their every thought. Typically, people associate the condition with young girls who are obsessed with their weight, yet it affects a scope of different people and can manifest itself in various ways. For example, muscle dysmorphia (a subtype of BDD) concerns the sufferer’s thoughts and beliefs regarding their body mass, primarily believing that they are not muscular enough and obsessing over the idea of ‘perfection’.
By Tyler Turner6 years ago in Psyche
The Steep Price of Depression
Running Helped Save My Life Running to me is like water to a fish. It’s like a sixth sense that overshadows the other five senses. It’s the way I’ve learned to connect to my inner self: You know, that passion for life that comes from the soul. It’s my way of connecting with Earth, and escaping a world dominated by drama, judgment, and negativity.
By Nathan Scot Wells6 years ago in Psyche
