Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Psyche.
"I Got Troubled Thoughts, and the Self Esteem to Match, What a Catch"
(Note: The title is taken from Fall Out Boy's song "What a Catch, Donnie") Accepting a Mental Illness My teenage years and early adulthood felt like a tumultuous storm of self-destructive behaviour, an inability to fit in, and a desperate agony to just be happy, or to feel like everyone else.
Mania MermaidPublished 6 years ago in Psyche
Antipathy
As a child, I did not have the full capacity to understand how quickly life stumbles along. I can remember waking up early in the morning for school thinking it was going to be a long dreadful day and I genuinely believed that those eight hours in the day were going to be comparable to what eight hours felt like in the real world. Boy, was I in for a major wake-up call.
Cody WyattPublished 6 years ago in Psyche
Before You Choose Suicide...
Hi, let’s start this article by telling you a bit about myself. A very small bit. On my arm I have a tattoo of a semicolon, for years I was plagued by depression and thoughts of suicide. I still have a problem with depression. I always will, it’s how I’m hardwired.
Selfish Act of Kindness
I was once called "the most negative person" someone had ever met. It didn't hit me until years later. Maybe that person was actually right.
ayla.jenniferPublished 6 years ago in Psyche
What Happens When the Opioid Epidemic Hits Home... Literally
He was only 32 years old. It was a Sunday morning. I was working my second job, bartending at a local spot. If I hadn’t been working I’d have probably been there drinking regardless, enjoying a casual Sunday brunch with my friends. It was a slow day, most of the regulars probably out in the Hamptons or taking advantage of the perfect beach weather. I felt the buzz of my phone in my pocket, the all too familiar sensation. Just a couple short bursts, only a text message. I saw one of my roommate’s names pop up, Annie. A short, but athletic dancer in her late twenties. We had spent the last several days trying to solve a peculiar case of an odor that had infiltrated our cozy four-bedroom apartment. Our third roommate was in Spain with his boyfriend, and our fourth in Long Island with his family for the holiday weekend. Therefore it was up to us to discover the source of the invasive smell.
Ricky WhitcombPublished 6 years ago in Psyche
I'm Not "Okay"
This is a real, raw, unedited letter. It comes from a place of intense emotion and pain. I am seething, quietly, internally.
Christina WoodcockPublished 6 years ago in Psyche
Depression
Depression... The depths of this sickness that inhabits more than half the population is dark. Lost, in a hole, you can't ever find your way out. My name is Bri, I have suffered from chronic massive depression since I was 8 years old. As a child, my father didn't want to accept the realization that I had a problem. This would only fuel the fire further.
Bri BaxterPublished 6 years ago in Psyche
Mental
When I was younger, I suffered silently from my mental illnesses. I didn’t feel normal and I couldn’t understand why. It wasn’t just teen angst, there was something seriously wrong with me inside that I just couldn’t brush off.
The Placard On The Door
I walked through the door. I could feel in my bones how badly I didn’t want to be there. The floor beneath me was hard and damp. Concrete, maybe. I couldn’t really see it. I knew I was in a hallway, though. It was long and dark except three lights at the end, one on the right and two on the left. Under each light there was a large door. Dark. Wood. Maybe metal. It was hard to tell from the distance I was standing. As I moved closer all I could hear were my own footsteps and the sound of my heart pounding in my ear. The first door was on the left. I was about halfway to it when I heard something. I paused to drink it in. Nope. Nothing. I continued moving forward. Wait. There it was again. It was a scream. I was almost to the door. As I approached I noticed a very small, metal placard attached high on the giant metal door. 'Self-loathing' read the placard on the door. The handle was large, round, and level with my head. I turned it and pushed the heavy door open.
Amanda WashburnPublished 6 years ago in Psyche
If Only You Understood
Depression... there's that word again. Why does everyone shut you down when you mention that word? Is it because it scares them because they can't see it or is it because they don't understand it?
Elizabeth HarrisonPublished 6 years ago in Psyche
Hormonal Imbalance and Psychiatric Disorder
The human mind is one very interesting labyrinth. Each mind is a different lock and each lock has its own key. The brain is similar to a computer. It follows a particular set of commands to execute functions. But sometimes a computer falters in its functions because of a wrong set of commands, bringing about a disruption in the entire software. Now compare these programming problems with the human brain and what we get is a set of functional problems what are known as mental disorders.
Siya NathanPublished 6 years ago in Psyche
The Pitfalls of a Weakened Will
Some of us had no idea if an end to the cycle was even possible while it still coursed our veins. Elm Street Horror Cutting straight to the point as straight as cutting to a point could be. I slipped from somewhere in the average ranges to near insanity. Days were spent barely conscious yet awake and moving about. Sometimes my skin would burn, my body reeked like sewage, the inside of my mouth would be covered in mini cuts, and I was nearly positive that my heart and my lungs had been taking excessive breaks from work. The most heinous seal of the slow horrifying transformation was the dilapidation of my core muscles and the flabby mass that now hung where a once flatly formed tummy had been. Surely my eyes were also sunk in some, but it varied from using to using how much. Trademarked battle flags for the pirated ship that was my life to fly on it's way to greater plunder.
