Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Psyche.
Art May Save Your Life
Imagine being underwater and you're swimming to the top and, just when you make it and catch that gasp of air, you're being pushed back down. Sometimes you're deeper. Sometimes the water is calm and quiet. Sometimes there are sharks around you. Sometimes you're completely alone. This is what Borderline Personality Disorder feels like. You're always feeling a different emotion from the last and they come crashing in like sea waves, leaving you breathless. Happy is ecstatic. Love is over joyful. Pain is gut-wrenching. Heartbreak is the end of you. Feelings weigh so much heavier on us than we can handle, so much that we sometimes give up trying to withstand it. Being normal and having normal reactions isn't an option and our coping mechanisms are greatly unhealthy. It's not a rollercoaster to me. It's an abyss. At least you can see where you're going on a rollercoaster ride.
By Jane Insane8 years ago in Psyche
Free Falling
What does someone's mind think when they hear the phrase, "free falling?" Maybe the mind will think of risking it all for one thing, free falling into that dark abyss we, as humans, like to call love, or what our minds believe is love. This story isn't about love, though, it's about free falling from hopelessness to something better, something worth living for, happiness.
By Amanda Wynes8 years ago in Psyche
Treating Mental Illnesses with Neuroscience
Approximately one in five adults in the United States experiences some aspect of mental illness in a given year, with one out of twenty-five of them reporting that the mental illness is “serious” and “substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities” (National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2018). In the past, mental health disorders and disabilities have been viewed in a negative light, and treatment for these afflictions has been lacking, if not entirely ineffective. Historically, patients were placed into isolation, often in insane asylums, where they were subjected to repetitive, reprehensible tests. Their skulls were drilled in the process of trephination, blood was drained from their bodies in bloodletting, and bodies were repeatedly purged of their “evil spirits” through ritual religious means. After this heinous poking and prodding came slight medical advances, and many patients were subjected to lobotomies, insulin coma therapy, or Metrazol therapy, in which individuals’ brains were cut, injected with compounds, or compromised in other ways in a vain attempt to “fix” their problems (Hussung, 2016). Despite these somewhat progressive medical treatments, mental illnesses were not cured, and researchers had to look further to discover the proper means of treatment.
By Emily Leister8 years ago in Psyche
My Last Words to Society
Dear society, I am a fifteen year old high school student, and I’m sorry, but I cannot live like this anymore. The expectations you place on us, the pressure you put us under, the lessons you teach us, the terror you put us through. It is unbearable. Almost everyone I know in school is depressed because of modern society. I don’t get the point of living in this damned world if all it brings me is suffering. The number of teenagers that I personally know that have self harmed, considered suicide, or even attempted it is way too high. I am doing this because I can’t handle it anymore, but also to spread a message. Things need to change. Now.
By A high school student In modern society8 years ago in Psyche
Anxiety and Society
Nothing is as simple as "just do it" when it comes to people with anxiety. Many people have different levels and different "genres" of anxieties. Whether it is social anxiety or personal anxiety or severe anxieties surrounding something in particular, all of them count and all should be addressed in the way that works best for you!
By Shaylynn Heidemann @paulo_deam8 years ago in Psyche
5 Common Misconceptions About Mental Illnesses
As we grow as a society and uncover more truths, mental illnesses start to show themselves more and more. Not because it is more common, but because more people are talking about the problems they are having instead of trying to hide it all the time. This doesn’t mean that people don’t hide their illness, but they are actively seeking help. Stigma is still an issue that is attached to mental illnesses and those that suffer from them. As someone who suffers from severe treatment-resistant depression, I see and hear those stigmas all the time, and a lot comes from people being uneducated about mental health and mental illnesses. Here are five common myths about mental illnesses.
By Richard Bailey8 years ago in Psyche
Weed and Medication
Let me tell you my back story with prescription pills and marijuana. I'll back up and tell you that I have depression, anxiety (BAD), PTSD, and bipolar disorder. That is just the set up to my experience with mixing my actual medication and marijuana. All of my disorders combined makes me paranoid.
By Jescina Miller8 years ago in Psyche
'13 Reasons Why' Delayed?
Now honestly, this show was hard to watch, but I still liked it. A lot of people were saying it was drawn out or melodramatic. Well, teenagers tend to be melodramatic. TV dramas also tend to draw things out. I know some people have had problems with it. The main group was parents. The other groups were people with suicidal thoughts and those who have lost loved ones to suicide.
By Lena Bailey8 years ago in Psyche
life love and chronic conditions
when you suffer daily and risk hospital everyday all you can do is smile In may 2017 i was put in intensive care after it looked like id had acid thrown in my face and it had swollen beyond recognition, And omg the pain was unreal and i came very close to not being here anymore i had a severe reaction to something and to this day we dont know what anyway my gp had given me steroids thinking it was allergy but it turned out to be a super infection and as a result my immune system was killed off so i had to be given several strong medications to counter act the damage . I was in such a dark place then as i looked like a freak and lost my lovely thick long hair due to the infection and my bipolar meant i thought everyone was staring and laughing at me when i ventured out of my sole room . 8 months on from then im still not healed but alot better i am covered in scars physically and emotionally . I have now been diagnosed with pemphigus vulgarias a very rare immune condition where it attacks your skin thinking its a threat which was triggered by my reaction in may so now i am constantly breaking out in very painful blisters that scab over and are hard to heal i am now at great risk of serious infection etc and i refuse to live life worrying so i just keep smiling and living life the best i can i am about to start treatment which involves killing my immune system so il be at even greater risk of serious issues and more hospitals .
By clair lissenden8 years ago in Psyche
