support
A solid support system is invaluable for one's recovery from psychiatric illness and mental health issues.
No Escape - The Invisible Man
The very last breath of my life was noticed by only one soul. One slow, knowing exhale and I finally let myself go as I heard the final call “hoo hooo hoo?” The night owl that had been calling to me every night was the only connection I had left with the outside world, the only communication I had day after day, and night after night. I had become invisible. The invisible man. People moved around me, moved me around, talked around me, and worst of all? They talk about me as though I was not even there! I screamed in my head that I was alive! That I could hear them, but no one heard, not one single soul, until the old barn owl started to visit, and then I wasn’t alone anymore. I was so scared to die alone, so scared that no one at all would notice when I took my last breath, that no one would see when my soul left my body, that no one would care when it happened. The owl would notice, he would care, and he had to be enough because he was all that I had.
By Suzanne Arden 4 years ago in Psyche
Anxiety
"This piece is about mental health awareness and the struggle many people face every single day. It is not meant as a diagnostic tool or to give any medical advice whatsoever. Every individual has their own story and their own treatment plan, so even if you see part of yourself in this piece, it's vital that you seek the help of a trained professional. It IS okay not to be okay."
By Josephine Mason4 years ago in Psyche
The Medical Model Has Created a Revolving Door Effect for Mental Health Services - Here's How Lived Experience Peers are Changing That
It's not uncommon to hear from friends, loved ones and community how alienating and frustrating it can be when trying to access mental health services in Australia. Even prior to Covid-19, the mental health system was struggling to provide access to relevant and timely services to vulnerable people seeking help.
By Alex Thomas 4 years ago in Psyche
Mental Health Services: A Disillusionment
Mental health has been at the forefront of media in the UK for a long while now with thousands of charities offering mental health help. Personally, in my time, I have spent the last fourteen years accessing various mental health services on and off, I have been put on various medications and I have been taken off others. Without saying too much about my own mental health issues, there is one thing that I noticed above anything else. The thing I noticed was that if you go to access your local mental health services in the UK, you will be met with leaflets and the ‘don’t be sad’ or ‘don’t worry’ speeches. These not only don’t help, but with some it can turn them off even contacting mental health services since it seems like reductive practice that is mainly meant to get you, the patient, to go away. The people within these jobs do not understand mental health problems and how each differs from the other, they do not understand the depth of feeling and the various symptoms both physical and mental that come along with it. They are simply there, on the phone or face-to-face, to tell you that there is a leaflet you should read. It is a reductive and damaging approach which makes me really question what the true outcome of this is. Do they actually want to make us feel better, or do they want to keep people in jobs and therefore, keep you coming back to the service over and over again, dissatisfied?
By Annie Kapur4 years ago in Psyche
The Emotional Mistress
The reason an Emotional Mistress even exists is because simply there is a fundamental breakdown between two people who are involved and neither will simply say "I am not living this way." Instead of thinking about love and relationships it has turned to things like tug of wars over kids, the annoyances of selling a house or splitting up property. A point has been reached that is past fixing and it just a matter of someone being grown up enough to set aside the practicals and do something healthy.
By Justice for All4 years ago in Psyche
Cultural Disengagement
Today, I went on a walk to grab some bubble tea and I bumped into a lady who handed me a bible. By now, it should be normal to interact with religious activists, but it got me thinking (a little too much, some might argue) about the state of religion today.
By Aathavi Thanges4 years ago in Psyche
My Autistic Experience is Valid, Even if You Don't Understand It
I have been struggling to write an article about my autistic relationship for weeks. My boyfriend is supportive of it: he has no qualms with sharing the fact that he’s autistic. He, like me, believes deeply in the power of sharing autistic stories as a form of advocacy. I do not feel any shame surrounding my relationship: I love my boyfriend, and besides, if I did feel shame, I’ve already written about my lowest point. I clearly have no problem exposing my bad side to you.
By Tori Morales4 years ago in Psyche
My philosophy
Skulls And Skins is about a journey. Its the journey of a mentally ill homeless man and his dog, I say mentally ill with a bit a sarcasm as the last two years have proved to me that I just think differently than other people and the mental health services don't understand. I follow the Universal Laws of life. Yes I am homeless, yes I am physically and mentally disabled apparently, and yes I am totally unemployable. But you see, I am now on a mission. You see I belived the bullshit I was been told since I was 14 years old that I was incapable of doing anything alone. But the fact is, that is what it was, bullshit.
By Skulls And Skins4 years ago in Psyche
Homelessness is not bad unless you make it so
Now I was brought up with an ethic, if you don't have all you need you use what you have to attain what you need over time. Yes I am homeless and also yes I have a LOT of mental illnesses and quite a few disabilities, and I could moan and groan about how crappy life is for me, but I decided to take an alternative approach, I decided that instead of sitting and crying into a bottle of vodka or sticking something up my nose or in my arm I would make the most of my situation.
By Skulls And Skins4 years ago in Psyche
The Big Sigh
This is one of those days. I feel it the moment I open my eyes. I instantly loathe that I am awake. I fall into an old habit of calculating how many hours I will have to reasonably be out of my bed before I can crawl back into it without having to feign illness or apologize for not returning a text. Twelve? Maybe if I stay in bed a little longer I can make it eleven. As I close my eyes, hoping for a lessened sentence, the dogs start to rouse. I hear the shuffle of early morning stretches, yawns, and scratches that tell me I don’t have long. The cat paw on my face tells me I am already late. These sounds, these sensations, this is morning and I am not a morning person.
By Becca Lory Hector4 years ago in Psyche
