Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Psyche.
The True Stories Behind 'Split': 10 Famous Real-Life Cases of Dissociative Identity Disorder
M. Night Shyamalan is following up the success of his last horror venture The Visit with the new psychological horror fare, #Split. Split stars James McAvoy as Kevin, a mentally ill man suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). His illness manifests itself as 23 different personalities that come out unpredictably. One of the personalities decides to abduct three teenage girls, and lock them up in a windowless room. The girls have to convince one of Kevin's tamer personalities to free them before his 24th personality — a ruthless being called "the beast" — comes out.
By Karina Thyra8 years ago in Psyche
I Love You
My heart breaks every time I hear about suicide, especially when it is a teen because I know what it is like to feel alienated by depression and anxiety. My journey started my sophomore year of high school. I started getting panic attacks so bad, my doctor thought they were seizures, since I have a history of them. I spent a lot of time at the nurses or in my counselor’s office, feeling embarrassed and panicky. That continues and my junior year, second semester, I had to be home bound. I finished the semester home bound and started fresh my senior year, only to have my dad pass away 14 days before my birthday. With these things piled up, I have thought about suicide a lot, but, looking back, I'm glad nothing serious happened, because I have a life to live and have this journey to share. I have self-harmed to the point of almost needing stitches. I used to look in embarrassment at my scars. They are ugly and only remind me of bad times. Today, I can't change that. What's done is done and the scars are there to tell a story. Today, I look at my scars and think how far I came. I have been free from self-harm for a couple of years and I am able to see my scars and turn them into positives. Yes, it did happen, I can't change that. What I can do, is to say "Wow, I haven't done that in a long time because today I am happy!" My scars tell the story of the past, my actions and positive thoughts will tell the story of my present and future!
By Maggie Dunn8 years ago in Psyche
When Suicide Is Never the Answer...
This morning I woke up and did my partially normal routine. Though my kids don't go back to school until tomorrow, I still needed to be up to get my husband going and prepare myself for the day. I made his sandwich, prepared his coffee, and drove him to work like any other day. On my way back home I felt partially lost and weary because he was off the whole week of Christmas so I'll definitely miss his presence around the house. I arrived home to hear the youngest start to wake up (don't worry, I didn't leave him alone). I went in and got him out of his bed and gave him an extra big hug. This morning something just felt off about life so I felt the need to hold him a little longer. After awhile I got him ready to head out into the freezing cold to head to daycare. It's Florida but yes we still get ridiculously cold here. It's one of those I love it, I hate it things. My mother in law took the little one and headed out as I enjoyed the silence of the house for about three minutes until my youngest five-year-old woke up. He sat with me shortly until I decided to get up and start checking my classes for this semester as well as throw in a load of laundry. Now mind you it's only about 7:30 AM, and I find myself daydreaming on Facebook. I scroll down to find that a close friend of mine has lost one of her best friends due to a suicide. I felt sad for her. I followed the links to the friend's page who I have 27 mutual friends in common with and saw that she was not only successful and beautiful but she has a four-year-old child! My heart was breaking for her family and her son. I continued on my merry way through my Facebook feed and found that another friend lost someone as well due to a suicide over the holiday weekend. While the first suicide suffered in silence, it appears that this second woman was suffering constantly. One was successful and full of potential, hanged herself in the front yard due to some emotional restraints on her heart. The other had been a habitual drug user who was in and out of rehab, jail and constantly in pain. Regardless of their situations, they're both gone and left their families to face the eternal emotional pain. I almost put my phone down because by this point I was myself emotionally drained, but I kept looking through my feed. Then I come to find a local officer, as well as a former school resource officer, had taken his own life in the parking lot of a church. The worst part is my husband knew him and thought he was not only a positive mentor but also a cheery man. So that's three; three people who took their own lives, three sets of families that will continue to suffer and wonder why. What could they have done to help? Hundreds of friends and members of the community that wish they could have seen some sort of trigger and aided in recovery for these lost souls. Today I'm praying a little harder, hugging my children a little tighter, and telling my husband how much I love and appreciate him. I've had some tragic moments in my life, hard times I thought I would never get out of, moments I thought that parenting was not for me, but no matter what I have always always tried to push myself to believe that fighting my way through life even if I was struggling and in pain would be ten times better than leaving my family and children behind. I never want my children to think that I left them or that I didn't care; I wouldn't want them to blame themselves. Part of me is angry that these people chose suicide, but this is my feeling; I have no idea how hard things really were for them, and the only thing I can do is pray for their families. Please remember that if you're suffering, you never have to do so alone; there is always someone to talk to, whether it be family, the church, or even a hotline you can call in your area. Someone loves you even when you don't love yourself.
By Mother Superior8 years ago in Psyche
Working with Crippling Anxiety
I remember the first time I had an anxiety attack at work. It was my first job at 16, in a supermarket that several members of my family had worked at. I ran into the staff bathroom and didn't come out for an hour, maybe a little longer. I kept going back and forth from crying uncontrollably to staring blankly at the stall door. My closest friend at work came in to try to calm me down, but nothing was working. I was just ready to leave and never go back. Later on that month, I went in to talk to my manager with my mom about taking a leave of absence but that soon turned into me quitting completely. I had to go to an outpatient program for a week at the least but I ended up going for about two and missing some school. There was a bigger part of me that was happy to not go back rather than working again because the thought of going trough another anxiety attack like that was crippling. It traumatized me.
By Melody Wood8 years ago in Psyche
Trapped
I feel like I'm trapped. I'm trapped inside a very dark and cold room, with five different heaters going. But none of them are warming me up; I'm stuck in a forever blizzard of coldness. My friends are nowhere to be seen, sitting alone in a room full of smiling strangers. Everyone's trying to make pleasant conversation, but I just can't help but feel like burden. No one wants me here, I'm just taking up space and drinking their booze.
By Kittie Kat8 years ago in Psyche
The Battle of a Day
Days are filled with bouts of anger and oceans of tears forming in my eyes. I have no control over my emotions or how they choose to seep through me. The demons inside me lash out at the ones I hold dear, and there's nothing I can do about it. Everyday I wake up in a whirlwind of feelings, sitting at my desk, I weep uncontrollably, for no apparent reason. When the tears have been shed, my hands clench hard into fists until my nails make deep indents in my palms. Again, for no reason that is clear. I'm angry and I'm sad and I'm nervous. I can't stop thinking about things I don’t want to be thinking about, things I shouldn’t be thinking about. Even if I try to focus my mind on something else, the memories still play in the background like elevator music. Still there, still wanting to be heard. I can’t take it anymore. I can feel myself getting bad again, but I don’t know what to do about it. I don’t know how to help myself. The bottles of empty wine are starting to build up in my cupboards. Each one pushing the angst of my soul a little further down. But after the buzz subsides, it come back up flooding my veins and entire nervous system. I know it's not healthy, but anything beats the pills.
By Jessica Rasile8 years ago in Psyche
