Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Psyche.
Through the Television
Has anyone ever watched television and thought to themselves, hmm what if I did that? In my childhood, I dealt with a lot of pain and suffering. The pain was from my stepfather, this kind of pain is something that haunts me every day, and I always think to myself could I have done more. I am obsessed with ID Discovery if anyone doesn't know what this is it is a channel that plays all kinds of crime shows. Some of these shows are about people who've survived traumatic events. While watching these shows I get jealous sometimes. Why do I get jealous? I get jealous because I didn't have the courage to save my sisters when they were getting beaten and raped, I didn't have the courage to tell the teacher the truth when he or she asked me why I had a black eye. I remember when I was in elementary school and I got called to the nurse's office. As I walked to the office, I became nervous because I knew why I knew why I was getting sent there. The day before my stepdad put his hands on my sister and me. I can't remember what it was about exactly, but I know the punishment was brutal. This punishment left a big scar on my face because my stepdad hit me in the face with a back scratcher (it looks like a fork). The teacher asked me before she sent me to the nurse's office what happened and I told her my sister and I got into a fight. Fast forwarding to when school was over I can remember sitting on the school bus and looking out the window. As I was looking out the window, I saw the nurses I was speaking to walking with a police officer and the principal. My stomach immediately dropped, and I began to panic because I knew they were talking about me. As I got off the bus and walked through the front door, my stepdad greeted my sister and me and prepared us with a story.
By Maelyn Jeffers7 years ago in Psyche
Sleep Hallucinations
Imagine lying in bed next to your partner, deep within the blissful realm of your mind, allowing your body the rest it so desperately craves. The room is pretty quiet. There's nothing else to be heard besides the fan you use as a white noise to help you sleep. Everything seems to be going so swell when BOOM! Suddenly you are staring at a person in the corner of the room, a girl with long dark hair. She starts moving towards you using a speed far more superior than human speed. You need to get away from her as fast as possible so you dive on top of your partner, the direction furthest away from her. Your partner wakes up and has no idea what just happened. You blink a few times and look over and realize there's nothing there.
By Holly Anne7 years ago in Psyche
Living Well with Mental Illness
I have Depression, Anxiety and OCD. I also have a life that makes me happy. Sometimes the former affects the latter, yet through practice and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, I have found some things that help me to live my life in a way that makes my mental illness stay in its place, as something I live with, but does not control me.
By Jaz Johnstone7 years ago in Psyche
Just Breathe
"Just breathe." The infamous words from my mother ring loud and clear still, an echo in my mind I will never not hear. Even before "The BIG MELTDOWN" and diagnosis, my mother would say these words to me anytime I was overwhelmed, scared, tired, frustrated, and anything in between. As aggravating as it became, I couldn't be more grateful for learning to breathe.
By Rae Nicole7 years ago in Psyche
Are You an Empath or Highly Sensitive Person?
The Research Science has not taken a definite stand on the issue of HSP’s, or Highly Sensitive People, though there is a great deal of information, and even a foundation, set up for HSP’s. “Some researchers believe that a recent discovery called mirror neurons might provide a neuro-science answer” (apa.org) to questions involving normal reactions to certain life situations. For example, we see someone fall down and scrape their knee and we automatically recoil in response to the situation. Almost like we can feel their pain, so to speak, which are your mirror neurons at work. This is the same when we see someone yawn and we immediately follow suit. Again, those are our mirror neurons. While these little affectors are quantifiable in science because scientists have found them in our brains, what seems to still be a mystery is how we affect atoms thus affecting the world around us. We all have mirror neurons and we are all made of atoms and molecules, so that is not the definitive answer for the person who is highly sensitive, though it plays into the situation. Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science discovered that beams of atoms move simply by being observed, and the more they are observed, the more they change. (Sciencedaily)
By SM Fitzgerald7 years ago in Psyche
Losing Your Sense of Urgency to Depression
Despite deadlines looming, barely any food in the fridge, medication dwindling, your depression brain wants to put everything off. Everything can wait. And even when the supplies do finally run out, it’s a mammoth effort to get up and out to re-stock. You reschedule tasks for the next day, and the next day; moving through each one at a snail’s pace that you can’t change. It’s like slogging through mud every day with a tired resignation that this is how it is until the depression begins to lift a little.
By Alicia Brunskill7 years ago in Psyche
Dating Someone with a Mental Illness
I am mentally ill. Every day I wake up and take prescribed pills to make me want to not jump into traffic or think everyone is talking about me. I hate taking these pills, so some days I refuse. On these days, I think everything is normal and I made enough progress to stop taking the pills. Then, after a couple days of not taking my pills, I begin to spiral. During these days I start to think there is no point in life and there is really no point in leaving the house, even better yet the bed. These days never mattered. Until I met my partner.
By Rachel Kahele7 years ago in Psyche
Anxiety, I've Got This
I've lived with anxiety since I was about 12-years-old. I had lost my aunt whom my family and I were taking care of every day, my boyfriend (if you can call someone that at age 12) and several other people I really loved all left me around the same time, and I was okay at first. We had my aunt's funeral to plan. I still had some friends and sports to occupy my time, so I did okay for the first few months after all of those things happened, until the day I slowed down.
By Savannah Aichem7 years ago in Psyche
