Latest Stories

Most recently published stories in Psyche.

Interviews with a Big Black Broad: Sessions #7
Interviewer: When did you began to seek professional help to treat your BDD? BBB: I'm sure it's not surprising that I was reluctant. I was complacent in dealing with my issues on my own up 'til the age of 28. I hid from mirrors. I would dwell in front of mirrors. I took down mirrors. I put them back up. I spent all my money on food, alcohol, makeup, hair products and expensive girdles of all kinds. I hid from the world for days and weeks on end. I drank to endure those moments when I gave in to the mounting pressures I felt to rejoin the world even when I felt the worst about myself. The annoyance of having to deal with a disorder that caused me to focus so much on myself had also taken its toll on me. I wasn't a purposefully vain person. I wasn't someone who would choose to be so self-consumed. I wanted to travel the world. I loved people and wanted to meet more of them from all walks of life. I didn't want to assume that everyone who stared at me only did so because they saw someone ugly. I needed the courage to live the life I ultimately wanted. How could I live any longer without being able to face myself in the mirror? Without being able to leave my house without being inebriated in some way? So, I faced the fact that I would remain stuck in the same positions in my life (literally) if I didn't at least try professional help.
By Anarda Nashai7 years ago in Psyche
Is There Really a "Post-Abortion Syndrome"?
Reversing Roe is a documentary recently released on Netflix that looks at the attempts that have been made over the years to challenge the United States Supreme Court's decision on abortion in the Roe v. Wade case. It mentioned something referred to as "post-abortion syndrome," a spectrum of adverse mental health effects that occur following an abortion. As a mental health professional myself, I knew that this isn't a diagnosis in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5), but I was curious to know more. While I support a woman's right to choose what happens with her own body, my focus here is not whether abortion is wrong or wrong, but rather whether post-abortion syndrome has been established as a legitimate phenomenon. I will use the term abortion to refer specifically to induced abortions rather than spontaneous abortions (i.e. miscarriages).
By Ashley L. Peterson7 years ago in Psyche
Battling With Mental Illness
I am a soon to be 48-year-old woman who battles with multiple disorders every day. I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder, severe anxiety, social anxiety disorder, post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD for short. I have had it for many years, and when I was in my teens, you could say that I had suicidal tendencies that love to take over.
By Brandi Payne7 years ago in Psyche
The Breakfast Table
The breakfast table has always been the place where you connect the most with friends and family. It was a safe space to converse with people, while sharing stories and experiences without feeling judgement. At this particular table, there were four of us, myself included. A middle-aged man who was homeless and there for help with his alcohol addiction, an elderly woman who had tried to take her own life, a teenager who had severe depression, and myself with my bipolar mania. Suddenly, sitting around this heavy metal table with this group of people felt like a comfortable place to be.
By Rachel Bonneval7 years ago in Psyche
Social Anxiety, My Experience
Social Anxiety and PTSD I went out recently with family. I thought I was over my fear of crowds until we headed into town which was crowded. I was nervous, fearful, panicking, and shaking. Everytime I walked through the crowd of people in town, it felt like they were rushing at me, leaving me feeling spaced out and scared. I feared I was going to be attacked. There was no logic in my fear, because I know I am safe where I live. My feelings come from the past, because in the past I was attacked in my home, and in town.
By Carol Ann Townend7 years ago in Psyche
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
For as long as I can remember, I wasn't comfortable in my own skin. I was born a twin in a family of four kids, and consequently I fought to find what made me special or unique. I was the runt of the litter (literally, not figuratively). My twin and I were born last out of the four and I was without a doubt the smallest of the family.
By Paige Sanz7 years ago in Psyche
3 Ways to Step Out of Job Related Depression
The demands of being an adult are sometimes taxing. Bills pile on top of each other, the kids need clothes. All of this costs money and each year prices are sure to rise but the paychecks never seem to keep pace.
By Rita Ronson7 years ago in Psyche
Doing Me
Is anyone else totally OK with being alone? My anxiety has forced me to be alone for so many years. When I say alone, I do have a dog (since 2017) and I do have a husband (together 9 years, married for 2) but he’s away so often with work than I often spend so much of my time alone.
By G I7 years ago in Psyche
Mental Health Awareness: What Can We Do Better?
Conversations about mental health can go many different ways, and people have all kinds of different attitudes about it. Although a stigma still remains around mental illness, many people have been brave enough to share their stories in an effort to eliminate the hazy outlook on it. Despite how far society has come, there are still some issues that should be brought to our attention when it comes to dealing with depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses.
By Kacie Riordan7 years ago in Psyche
Psych 1
Walking through the double doors to Psych 1 was not as nerve-racking as I had expected. I originally envisioned a room full of noise, and overly medicated patients drooling over themselves in wheelchairs. Just like they show you in the movies. Instead, I was met with an empty room, and three Nurses. In the empty room, I could see that it had books, a television, crayons, and a door that led to the outside. Looking at the door, all I could see was my disheveled reflection in the window. I noticed there were no brown recliners, but there were leather sofas, and tables with connected metal seats. The nurses station was on my right, with a counter that was so high I could barely see over it. I was told by the nurse that I needed to be searched again, to be sure that I didn’t bring anything from the other hall that I wasn’t supposed to.
By Rachel Bonneval7 years ago in Psyche
Anxiety Horror Story - Episode 1: The Concert
End of summer, 2016. I was on the way to this live show event with my “friends” at Counter Culture, the new venue in my small little town, Saginaw, Michigan. When we get there, I automatically realize how lame I look compared to everyone else, start to feel self-conscious, out of place. It definitely was not my scene and I barely knew any of the bands there too. The room is absolutely PACKED with people, to the point where the main concert room is spilling into the lobby and outside. The room is LOUD, my ears ringing. More and more people are piling in, I start to panic. I look around, searching for my friends—familiar faces in the crowd. I see them far away, across the room, submerged between a sea of bodies. They laugh, dance, together, unaware of my existence. How could they so easily forget that I was there? How could they be so blissfully ignorant of the fact that I wasn’t even with them anymore?
By Lita7 years ago in Psyche
Depression
Heaviness—in your chest, in your stomach, or even in your head. Almost like you are being weighed down by heavy weights; only, you can't see or get a hold of them. You don't even know where they came from. You don't recall anything that may have caused it. You ignore it and call it a effect of bad weather, or the result of last night's bedroom argument, or just casually even feeling uneasy.
By Swati Shingala7 years ago in Psyche