Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Psyche.
Rise Above
What is a narcissist? Definition: Basically, a personality in which someone sees no fault in themselves or in their actions. They think they are perfect and feel the need to have a sense of entitlement. They turn criticism onto the other person in the most twisted ways.
By Rheana Roose8 years ago in Psyche
"Feeling Like I'm in a Dream"
I start to feel very "odd" when I turned 17. I never really paid much attention to it at first and wrote it off as my depression and anxiety getting worse. I'd been severely depressed since I was 10-years-old; a family death combined with bullying and abuse triggered it at a young age so I'd been living with it for 7 years and I was starting to learn how to cope with it in my own way.
By Briana Frederick8 years ago in Psyche
How To Love When Your Anxiety Hates You
Anxiety is an ever present force in many lives, including my own. It’s a shadow around every corner waiting to pop out and a whisper in your ear that you can’t help but hear. Love however is something completely different. It’s a bright light in your life that fills you with warmth and good feelings. So how are you supposed to let go of your insecurities in yourself and your mental health to give yourself fully to someone else?
By Caitlin Sullivan8 years ago in Psyche
Surviving Through Mental Illness
I want to start this off by saying I am only 16 years old. Just a young kid in high school working their butt off to get homework done so they can get a high GPA and graduate on time. Something that isn’t that unusual for teens to stress about, but for me it gets even more intense than just the usual anxiety of getting work done and caring what other people think about me. It gets so difficult for me to leave my bed in the morning and not because I hate school or am too tired from lack of sleep, but because I have a mental illness. Multiple mental illnesses actually that make my life a living hell and people don’t even know the half of the stress my own mind puts me under because there’s no visual evidence that I’m suffering.
By Emily Anne8 years ago in Psyche
The S Word
Mention 'The S Word' to someone, and 9 times out of 10, they'll deflect, maybe stifle a nervous laugh, and move onto another subject. It's not a comfortable topic for anyone, especially if you're the initiator. But we often ignore the fact that talking about things usually makes them less scary. I wish people were more willing to make things less scary for each other.
By Victoria K8 years ago in Psyche
Contributing Factors of a Wallflower
My mother had me when she was 16 years old. She grew up in Pomona, which if you don’t know is one of the biggest gang towns in California. Right now it is one of the largest human trafficking hubs in the United States. When I was growing up there were always shootings at our house. Drive-by’s and people on our roof. I always had a change of clothes hidden and shoes in case we had to leave the house in a hurry. Being that young and going through things like that, you don’t realize how fucked up it is until you’re a lot older… or until you share stories with people and they look at you like you’re crazy.
By Raven McCoy8 years ago in Psyche
My Mental Health Won’t Make Me Interesting
I can only speak one language. I don't know how to fold a fitted sheet, and I hate parties. You could suppose that these things alone could & would potentially be a part of one's personal traits that make them seem cool and interesting, and I would suppose that that's right. However, I can't do these things. There's actually quite a lot of things that I can't do, or struggle to do, and in that ineptitude, I have often found myself using my illnesses as a crutch to deem me as the manic pixie dream girl trope.
By Victoria K8 years ago in Psyche
Inner Feelings
Nobody understands the inner feelings of another person, but when you try to tell someone your inner feelings, do they even listen to you or try to understand? Well, for most people and myself, that is the case with our lives, inner feelings are complicated for everyone. It's complicated for the people trying to understand and it's even complicated for the people having inner feelings. Having inner feelings is like having another person living inside you that is trying to take over your whole life. Some people give up and let it take over; I should know, I'm one of those people. But I'm slowly learning to get back to being me and not giving in to the urges of the inner feelings. After you give in to these inner feelings it's hard to come back to the real you—hell, I still don't know who the real me is. I gave up a long time ago and lost sight of me and everything I stand for. Don't let those inner feelings take over because they will kill your soul.
By Shelby Spencer8 years ago in Psyche
Get Real
WARNING: Content may be triggering for some. I encourage you to open up completely with all of the strangers of this world, and to help end the stigma around mental illnesses. I am not ashamed or embarrassed of my story, it is nothing but the harsh reality of how I've lived with bulimia nervosa for so long.
By Amy Mauger8 years ago in Psyche
Unwanted
Dear Loved Ones, Have you ever felt like a ghost... a ghost who is trying to reach out to people, but no matter what she does, they will never see or hear her cries for help. Well if you have felt that way, so have I, and it hurts. It hurts that no matter what you do or say, nobody will see or understand you. All my life I've been invisible, at home, at school, in public, everywhere I went I was the girl nobody even noticed. Even in my own family people didn't even know my mother had a second daughter. I go to work and I feel like nobody wants me around but how do I tell my loved ones my true feelings, how do I tell my loved ones that I need their love right now more then ever?
By Shelby Spencer8 years ago in Psyche
