Happy Girl Winter: How to Overcome Seasonal Depressive Disorder
How to Set Boundaries with a Toxic Mother
For me, the worst part about Mom leaving was that she kept coming back just to leave again. Even though she became predictable, and I should have gotten used to her coming and going from my life as she pleased, I always got hurt when she left. In my adult life, I learned to put up boundaries to avoid this pain and have a semi-healthy relationship with my mother…
How Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is Both My Enemy and Friend in My Writing Process
The word OCD creates numerous images in our minds. Most of the time, those images are related to cleaning excessively or the order in which we prefer to do things. Those elements, of course, can be something that someone who was diagnosed with OCD can struggle with. However, this disorder can mean so many other different things – and for each individual, there is a distinctive experience…
Representation in Mental Health Matters: A Queer Black Muslim Woman’s Guide to Therapy
It is easier for some to blame my parents for the environment I grew up in without seeing how Western colonialism, slavery and racism perpetuated the generational trauma that has haunted my family, that the world’s Islamophobia and thereby the pressure to be perfect the entire course of my life was what broke the camel’s back. These are the things that I struggle to articulate when tasked with explaining to those who ask why I need to talk specifically to a queer black professional…
My Experience of EMDR Therapy
I was willing to try anything to allow myself even a moment of respite, so I met an EMDR therapist. She explained the therapy to me as the idea of reprocessing your perception of time and emotion when experiencing a flashback. When encountering a trigger, something can happen called an amygdala hijack. The amygdala is the part of your brain that processes memory and emotional responses. When overwhelmed, it effectively goes into panic mode and it’s near impossible to process that, while triggered, you’re not in danger at that precise moment…
‘Growing into a Healthier and Happier Human Being’: My Experience of In-Person and Virtual Therapy
During my sister’s first visit home, she was full of stories about the amazing experiences that she had been having. I sat and listened silently, anger bubbling inside. Then, one night, the anger burst in the form of a screaming rage. When a gap emerged between the screams and tears, my mum calmly stated that I should consider seeing a doctor. I accepted…