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Written by Sarah Fader http://www.psychologytoday.com/ I’m Sarah Fader, a mother of two, a blogger, an animal lover and I am living with panic disorder. What this is means is that sometimes, out of nowhere, I feel what is known as “fight or flight.” There is a seemingly imminent threat, when in actuality I am completely safe. Panic is a funny thing. I’ve laid in bed awaiting sleep and all at once I would feel a pain in my cervical spine. The pain would trigger a automatic thought in my mind: I am dying.Read More →

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Written by David Sandum http://davidsandum.org/ People often ask me, “Have you always known you wanted to be an artist?” The fast answer is no. It wasn’t until many years after my first exhibit that I made a conscious decision to become one. I had originally planned to become a business consultant. During my senior year of college, however, my life started veering off course. I had trouble sleeping, cried for no reason, thought I would fail everything, and went to the emergency room twice, terrified I was having a heart attack because my chest hurt so badly. The doctors would tell me nothing was wrong,Read More →

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By Andy “Electroboy” Behrman http://www.electroboy.com/ 2008 For years, I suffered with a mental disability. I still do — no one has found a cure for manic depression (bipolar disorder) yet. During those crisis years, though, nobody knew anything was really wrong with me. I was experiencing a wild rollercoaster ride of frightening highs and lows that put my life in jeopardy, but my disability was completely invisible.Read More →

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“I am Jonathan”   Having retired from professional filmmaking, this had been where I left off–a study of psychosis and schizoaffective disorder as I saw it through the schizophrenic lens in 2009 and 2010. “I am Jonathan” is intended to be educational; target audience being grad students in psychology and counseling. It’s just time for me to let it go, at this point in my life. I do hope it might prove helpful, offer hope and understanding of what schizoaffective is like for me on a daily basis.Read More →

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Written by: Wendy Sparrow http://wendysparrow.com/ I’m medicated for OCD. I have to be. And it’s not 100% symptom control…more like anywhere from 30-60%. But my OCD is severe enough that I don’t expect total symptom control. There’s this thing about going the medication route. You’re not working through your problems and coping despite them like you do with therapy. You’re not feeling them every moment like when you’re suffering with them or practicing avoidance. They’re a background noise…one that you’re ignoring, and the medication makes it easier to ignore them.Read More →

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Written by: Caroline CriadoPerez Journalist & Feminist Activist https://weekwoman.wordpress.com This is a blog I’ve been meaning to write for a while. I’ve held back mainly out of fear. I know that by writing this for public consumption, I’m giving more ammunition to those who seek to discredit me and dismiss everything I say as the irrational ramblings of an unbalanced hysteric. I also know that when they use this post to undermine my words, it will hurt me. But I feel like it’s my duty to write this, because there might be other people out there who have been struggling like I have, and don’tRead More →

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Written by: Neely http://deardarlingsanity.com/ As a 24 year old female who has endured, suffered and been at the mercy of ill mental health I am inspired by campaigns by charities such as, Mind, Re-Think, and B-eat to talk. Having experienced discrimination, ignorance and stigma throughout my own struggles I truly believe that it is time to talk in order to reduce these negativities surrounding not only the topic of mental health, but also for those experiencing it. Through diagnosis after diagnosis I remain in recovery for a disorder best described as somewhere between Borderline Personality Disorder and a Dissociative Disorder. In my time I haveRead More →

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Written by: http://www.allinyourhead.co.uk/ When days become your night time and night becomes your day time, unless you are working a permanent night shift, there is a problem. The anxiety/panic had become so bad, I could only sleep when I was surrounded by familiar faces and voices. In my mind, there was theory. I’m a happy person generally, always game for a laugh and a joke , love a giggle and have to see people smile. However, I was having attacks so frequently that my mind was set on the next one being ‘the one’ to finish me. So my thinking was, ‘if it is goingRead More →

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By: Keith O’Neil keithoneil.com Everything was perfect. I had recently retired from the NFL with a Super Bowl ring. I was working in a great industry as a medical device representative. Jill and I had recently settled into our dream home located in a beautiful suburb outside of my hometown of Buffalo, NY. We were back around family and friends on a regular basis for the first time in many years – we were enjoying life! Thoughts of having a family of our own were on the horizon. Life was good, even great.Read More →

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By Elena Peters thebipolarmaniac.com   In many ways, my marriage is no different than anyone else’s marriage. This is the second marriage for both my husband and I. We both have children from previous marriages. We both have ex-spouses that are still involved in our lives on a daily basis. We have extended families with varied backgrounds, sprinkled all around the world. We have jobs and mortgages and commitments that pull us in all sorts of directions. Just like any other marriage, there are things that bug me! My husband leaves the toilet seat up, doesn’t put the cap back on the toothpaste and leavesRead More →