Happy Girl Winter: How to Overcome Seasonal Depressive Disorder
‘Progress is an Irregular Path’: Chronic Fatigue and Learning to Live Life Slowly
Does all of this sound boring and repetitive? That's exactly how it feels for me. This repetitive cycle has been draining my youth one day at a time and I feel like I've missed out on a lot of my younger years already. Friends and acquaintances from school and university appear to have interesting lives; I feel like a failure. However, they may be feeling the same – social media doesn't show the whole picture of people's lives…
‘I Thought Recovery was Supposed to be Permanent’: Mental Health Is Not Binary, Fixed or Linear
There’s still a stigma around mental health. I had no idea how much until I became aware of how I was relating to myself. Somewhere along the way, I decided that if I ever struggled or needed anyone again, I had failed. I thought that recovery was meant to be permanent and that I should be self-sufficient, that I didn’t deserve any more help or love than I’d already had…
‘Fight, Flight, Fawn’: How Growing Up with Domestic Violence Shaped My Responses as an Adult
One would think that our lives were back to ‘normal’ and on the up. It was only later in life that the cracks began to show in my psyche; I was prone to anxiety (both a low-level strum inside my chest and, rarely, full-blown panic attacks). Now in my late 30s, and after many therapy sessions, it is clear to me that there is still a residual effect from the events that I witnessed…
The Drugs Don’t Work: Antidepressant Stigma and Why Mental Health Headlines Matter
A headline asserting that medication is ineffective without warning readers that they should not immediately stop taking it is irresponsible, given the severity of withdrawal symptoms associated with SSRIs. This sensationalistic sentiment contributes to the stigma surrounding mental health medication and to a reluctance among those who could benefit from additional medical treatment…