Psyche
An open conversation about mental health; stories, experiences, advice, real life. Psyche exposes the inner workings of the human soul, mind, and spirit.
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Stories in Psyche that you’ll love, handpicked by our team.
On Reading "Anxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief"
This month’s book recommendation is a little different, a little more personal. I wanted to focus on one book that appeared at the time I think I needed it most. I recently returned to my office for the first time in two years. I keep books everywhere, so unsurprisingly there was a bunch waiting for me when I came back. Sitting on my desk, the first book at the top of the pile was Anxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief. I immediately put it in my tote bag to bring home.
Self-Care Sundays
Two stories high and made of bricks, the first rays of sun light shine through the frosted glass windows and beam into my bedroom, lighting it up brightly. It’s Sunday morning.
I Am Alien
I wrote this short piece as a free-form exercise back in November of 2017. The goal was to write about what it would be like if you could step outside of reality and visit your own mind. There are so many elements of this writing that I used as personal inspiration and reference when writing The Caretaker: https://www.amazon.com/Caretaker-David-J-Badurina/dp/B08N5MX3N8/
David BadurinaPublished 10 days ago in Psyche
A Colorful Mind
“I know he’s out there mother. His noise is compelling. I can hear it! How do you not hear it?” My eyes opened wide as I calmly took a deep breath and didn’t turn my head. The dampness of the sheets stained onto me as I tried my best not to move a muscle.
Angel BellamyPublished 11 days ago in PsycheTaking a Step in Knowing the Mind, Body, and Spirit
Towards the end of April, in the year 2019, I learned a lot about myself. I learned more than I thought I would, learned about my mind and why the things I thought happened the way they did. I came to understand why I was so different from the kids I grew up with, why I always felt strange and alien even as I pretended I was "just like every other girl."
Brittany MillerPublished 13 days ago in Psyche
Why you feel sad out of the blue
Do you ever wonder why you're in a bad mood for no apparent reason? Feel your good moods begin to turn south out of the blue? Has forcing yourself to always be happy left you emotionally exhausted? A possible answer is that you are not properly regulating your emotions.
How I Help People With Anxiety
Anxiety today could be considered a universal experience. Nowadays it seems as though if you aren’t anxious, you are considered to be the exception rather than the rule. Anxiety has become such a huge part of our experience that it would be almost strange to think that it might not have as much power over our lives as it does.
Dustin WalkerPublished 20 days ago in PsychePillows, Comfort Objects, and the Elephant in the Room
At my last counseling session, I asked my counselor for a throw pillow perched on a chair. As she handed it over, she called it her "elephant in the room" pillow, so clients can acknowledge hard issues in their lives. The elephant pillow is one large blob with flappy ears and a stuffed trunk. It has soft fabric that's soothing to rub too.
Eileen DavisPublished 26 days ago in Psyche
Collections
Themed story collections curated by the Vocal moderators.
Behind the Scenes
Exploring mental health in the public eye; celebrities and the spotlight that has been placed on their personal lives and their mental health.
In Treatment
Discovering the ins and outs of treatments and therapies. Join the conversation today.
Beyond the Blues
Understanding depression is difficult; hear from Psyche's community of peers on their experiences with this mood disorder.
Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Psyche.
The real awesome, is those in trouble still keep smiling ordinary people
All of the above answers are too weak, or look at mine! I hadn't walked since I was born in 1993, and doctors had concluded that I wouldn't live to see the age of five. But just a few minutes ago, I was using Taobao to pick out a gift for my 20th birthday. When my peers were in kindergarten, I had been to hospitals in big cities such as Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. When my peers were still playing on the seesaw and jumping rubber bands, I was experiencing millions of medical instruments wandering around my body. I have taken medicine that no pig would take, I have been stuck with electric needles, I have practiced the marvelous Qigong, and I have even lived in an orphanage full of abandoned children. That lonely day, surrounded by all the mentally retarded children. The e most lonely time, I can only sing in the corridor;
xiaozhini1Published 43 minutes ago in Psyche
A young man swayed by life advice
It seems that we have received all kinds of life advice since childhood. Parents advise you to give up your hobbies and study hard in academic classes, teachers advise you to pay less attention to your favorite literature and do better in math. These advice seems to be unreasonable in some sense. Do you really have the ability to pursue those hobbies that you've stuck with for years when you're running for life and overwhelmed by reality? When you can't get better educational resources, good cultural atmosphere, good teacher guidance, you are good at the subject, will there be better development? In some ways, life advice is "useful" and will make us "happier" or "better" in the future. So we follow life advice, avoid the detour, get there easier, feel smug, and see a lot of grown-ups, who didn't take life advice, line up a bunch of "what if" sentences, beat their chests, and feel miserable. We give ourselves too much life advice, so we look around, turn back, indulge in the past and fantasy, and even stop fighting. I've heard a lot of parents tell their children, I was just like you and I didn't listen to advice, so I'm poor and unhappy now. But if you think about this sentence carefully, is your whole life, or one thing, really going to never change because you didn't listen to someone else?
John WilsonPublished about 5 hours ago in Psyche
Money and Success
In the era of commodity economy, some people regard money as the only standard to measure success in life. There's no denying that in real life, you can't do anything without money -- it takes money to stay afloat, it takes money to stay in hospital, it takes money to open relationships. More money and less money affect people's quality of life all the time.
John WilsonPublished about 5 hours ago in Psyche
I swear New York is the nearest place to hell
I looked at myself in the mirror. I know my name was Clementine when I was baptized, so if people call me Clementine, think about it, even Clementine, it's probably okay, because it's my name after all. But they don't even call me that. Everybody calls me Tisci. I think that'll work. I'm tired, and I'm starting to think that maybe everything that's going on makes sense. Here's the thing: If it doesn't make sense, how could something like this happen? But the idea is terrifying. Such thoughts must be the result of trouble -- and unreasonable trouble.
The desire to escape is called freedom
It would be nice if, from a certain age, we got smaller as we got older, just as children grow older, but with the same intelligence and social status as our age. So there would be a group of old men and wise men who looked like boys of seven or eight years old. The oldest emperor was the smallest; Of course, popes are small men, and the bigger cardinals look down at the smaller popes, just as the bigger ordinary bishops look down at them. The kids don't want to be big anymore. History will lose its meaning; We will sigh that the past thirty years have been made by a group of ant children, so that history has finally been lucky enough to escape from view.
It's a miracle one survives to be a teenager
It's a miracle one survives to be a teenager. It's a miracle that teenagers grow into adults. It's so quiet. I don't know what time it is, maybe two or three. I should have slept a few hours. I'm not sure.
Depression is a flaw in love
Depression is a flaw in love. As creatures of love, we are bound to despair of loss, and depression is the mechanism for this despair. When depression sets in, it diminishes a person's sense of self, eventually eroding our ability to give or receive emotion. Our inner loneliness also manifests itself, destroying not only our bonds to others, but our ability to be alone in peace. While love does not prevent depression, it cushions the mind and protects it from itself. Drugs and psychotherapy can renew that protection, making it easier to love and be loved, which is why they work. In good spirits, one loves oneself, one loves others, one loves work, one loves God: all of these passions provide a vital sense of purpose, which is the opposite of depression. But love often betrays us, and we betray love. In depression, the meaninglessness of every career, every emotion and life itself becomes self-evident. In this loveless state, the only thing that remains is that nothing matters.
There is no need to envy others in life
People are not vegetation, vegetation a touch, it hurts, it falls. As long as there is root, life will continue, spring; People do not, touch, hurt, fall, health discount, happiness discount, life discount.
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