BELLEVILLE – Michael Teasdale never thought about killing himself. But he did feel like curling up in a corner and letting life roll over him until it flattened him out of existence. The Stirling man and Loyalist College student was just one of the walkers in Wednesday’s Defeat Depression at the school, aimed at raising awareness of mental illness.Read More →
To some, anxiety is a taboo term. To one student, it was seven letters that defined her life. At the age of 12, second-year Ryerson journalism student Emily Aubé was diagnosed with panic and generalized anxiety disorder. Both conditions put her through great stress and pressure growing up. “In high school, there were no resources that helped me and I felt very much ashamed of my disorder in fear of being labeled as ‘mental’ or ‘crazy,’” Aubé said.Read More →
When Elizabeth Manley opened the door and saw her mother for the first time in weeks, her mother collapsed on her knees and began to cry. Since moving to the United States to pursue her dreams of figure skating and Olympic gold, Manley had become a pale ghost of the robust athlete she had once been — she’d lost all her hair, gained 40 pounds and had almost completely stopped talking. “I wanted to wear the pretty dresses and the pretty makeup, but unfortunately sports don’t always come with the pretty stuff,” she told a packed crowd at the University of Ottawa on Monday, 30Read More →
Around my freshman year in high school, I received a diagnosis I frequently refer to as “the trifecta” — depression, anxiety and OCD. Depression was without a doubt the main diagnosis, but I found out over time that these three individual illnesses play off each other. Sometimes it was hard to tell where the symptoms of one illness ended and another one began.Read More →
Some people grow uncomfortable when talking about mental illness, especially if it involves a loved one. The idea of someone not being able to fully control his or her behaviors can be difficult to decipher. When a loved one is hit with mental illness, some people are very supportive, while others become distant and confused. This is normal because not everyone can grab a hold of the fact that those with mental illness have trouble controlling some of their everyday lives.Read More →
Kendra Fisher, mental health advocate and former member of Team Canada’s Hockey program, speaks about the frustration in getting help.Read More →
SAULT STE. MARIE – Melissa Cutler looks forward to rising these days — that’s perhaps because her future shines a bit more brightly. She does take medication for the mental disorder that’s dogged her since her early teens, and she still receives — albeit, less lately — medical assistance. But things appear to be coming together for the Sault Ste. Marie woman, 21, for whom mental illness has been a constant companion for far too long. “I haven’t been in the hospital for about four months,” Cutler told The Sault Star this week. “I’ve been doing very well.Read More →
Since publicly disclosing her own struggle with bipolar disorder, Demi Lovato has become an outspoken advocate on mental health and the surrounding stigmas. Her most recent outreach is through a partnership with the Mental Health Listening & Engagement Tour, during which she’ll speak on key issues to raise awareness for those living with mental illnesses. In the introductory video, Demi speaks candidly on her own battle with bipolar disorder. “Bipolar depression really got my life off track,” “but today I am proud to say I am living proof that someone can live, love, and be well with bipolar disorder when they get the education, supportRead More →
“There is nothing impossible to him who will try.” – Alexander The Great Believing in one’s abilities goes a long way, but it’s taken me over thirty years to arrive in a place where I feel positive about my life and somewhat in control of the thoughts and ideas in my head, which once drove me to bizarre behaviour, destructive tendencies, rages, depression, fear and distrust. Let me start closer to the beginning of this story. I am of Chinese descent and was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1979, I was a shy, impressionable teenager. I began to hear voices outside my home, in theRead More →