Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Psyche.
The Invisible Girl
I first thought seriously about taking my own life at 15 years old. My mom was a single mom, and my alcoholic dad wasn’t around. I had one older brother who had issues; we were not close. I was a huge introvert. The girl that took a book with her everywhere so she didn’t have to interact with the world. What caused this intense feeling of wanting to disappear completely and forever at this young age? Was it the “druggie” girls in high school who constantly bullied me, who would call my house every morning at 2 AM to threaten me and my family?
By Missy Is Me7 years ago in Psyche
8 Months Free
Free from drowning in alcohol and drugs and the constant need to party with friends. Free from the worry of where my next fix is going to come from. Free from the need to pour whiskey and diet Pepsi in a cup, then to snort a line. Free from the all-nighters which became all dayers because I was still too messed up to sleep. Free from the two-day hangovers filled with stomach rot and very high anxiety. Free from the need to do it all over again the next weekend.
By Dagny Desiree7 years ago in Psyche
Taking a Life
It's that time of the year again. Suicide prevention month. And there are a lot of thoughts I would like to share with anyone willing to stay here and read. Let me start off with why I believe I have the right to talk so openly about my opinion on this topic.
By Alexis Ybañez7 years ago in Psyche
Growing up with Bipolar
Growing up I didn't know what was wrong with me. I didn't know there was anything wrong with me, I was just...me. My name is Katie Lile, born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. When I was five I was diagnosed with bipolar, when I was seven I was diagnosed with bipolar II. Not only did I grow up with Bipolar but I grew up with a mother who also has bipolar.
By Kathryn Lile7 years ago in Psyche
Depression
My Experience with Depression I am 24 years old, and I have felt the lingering sadness, loneliness, and physical aches of depression as far back as my mind will take me. Being someone with many mental illnesses, I have always been one who refuses to let them completely take the reins. I'm not saying that I don’t have struggles, or that my social anxiety allows me to mingle in the midst of a stranger crowd, but rather I find little things throughout the day, week, month, and year, to help the darkness that is depression, becoming simply OK.
By Haleigh Garza7 years ago in Psyche
Trauma Part Two
Please follow this link to read preceding articles. Breakthrough Something that all abuse victims experience is cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is when you hold conflicting beliefs, such as, “This person is kind and generous and we have a good friendship,” and “this person mistreats me.” Abusers use a tactic called intermittent reinforcement, a type of operant conditioning. Through operant conditioning, a subject learns to associate punishment or reward with a particular behavior. A rat presses a lever and it gets a food pellet reward. Intermittent reinforcement is inconsistent. Sometimes the rat gets a pellet for pressing the lever, and sometimes it doesn’t. There is no more powerful means of altering a subject’s thoughts and behavior. When tested, intermittent reinforcement has been found consistently to be significantly more powerful than continuous reinforcement. It inspires obsessive, self-destructive behavior in favor of seeking the reward. The rat will forego other healthy behaviors, such as grooming or socializing, in favor of pressing the lever until it becomes physically ill.
By Hecate Jones7 years ago in Psyche
Crazy
When I had what I call, my breakdown, I was just out of an 18 year marriage. I had four beautiful children, who meant the world to me, no experience in a current job market and I felt alone, rejected, abandoned and very, very sad. My weekend alcoholic, husband had decided to leave me for another woman and I was overwhelmed and devastated. My world had come crashing down and I woke up one morning, sat on the sofa and started to cry uncontrollably. I cried for all of the above reasons, I cried basically, because I just couldn’t stop the tears. After about a week of no signs of the waterworks stopping, my kids started looking at me like I might be, well you know...CRAZY! I decided to ask around about what my lack of emotional control might mean?
By Marsha Morgan Medina7 years ago in Psyche
Depression Symptoms That Feed Each Other
My point of view about depression exhaustion, lack of motivation, and anhedonia is not a medical one. I am not a medical professional, so you won’t find a scientific explanation to what I describe, but rather my own experience of living with depression and how these different symptoms seem to interact with each other. Hopefully you’ll find some of the things I do to counteract them useful for you or a loved one.
By Alicia Brunskill7 years ago in Psyche
