Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Psyche.
Stop Telling Your High-Anxiety Friends that “Things Could Always Be Worse”
We’ve all done it. We’ve relied on what have become standard comforting phrases when faced with a situation that requires us to offer reassurance to someone.
Kassondra O'HaraPublished 3 years ago in PsycheFake it Til You Make It
"Fake it 'til you make it." Conway stared at the words until his nose wrinkled up. Then he turned the book this way and that. Upside-down. Over his nose. As if each perspective of the sentence would somehow make things clearer to him. Then he tossed the book across the bed.
Minte StaraPublished 3 years ago in PsycheA Past Life Memory
This is a short essay on the topic of past lives. When I was a teenager I learned about the theory of past lives from reading books by Alan Watts and others on Zen Buddhism, and Theosophy by a variety of authors. The philosophy was that we have a soul that incarnates in the physical world to experience physicality and to learn soul lessons, and in each lifetime we create karma. In these Eastern philosophies they claim that we come to earth thousands of times as both males and females, but we never regress to animal forms from the human.
Anne Elizabeth MatthewsPublished 3 years ago in PsycheWhat a strange trip its been
April 2021 "...Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me Other times, I can barely see Lately, it occurs to me What a long, strange trip it's been.." - Truckin' by The Grateful Dead
Suzanne AllenPublished 3 years ago in PsycheEmbrace Your Shadows
A brief history of our shadows The concept of a shadow self (also known as shadow aspect, shadow archetype, or Id) comes from analytical psychology, Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung’s approach to the empirical analysis of the human psyche.
Are You Blessed or are You Cursed?
So, what exactly is an empath you may ask. An empath is someone with the natural ability to understand the emotional, mental, and physical state of a person or an animal. We sense and feel and read the energy around them. This is just something you're born with. We have the innate ability to intuitively feel and perceive. Empaths feel because we came here to heal, our gift is sensitivity; so we can know and understand others on a deep and true level. We are the embodiment of love. Your energy tells you whatever you need to know and you can help heal the world. I feel that being an empath is a great blessing.
Heidi CondelloPublished 3 years ago in PsycheLiving with Anxiety
For as long as I can remember, I have always lived with anxiety. It feels as if I am in a rocking chair. Although my body may be moving, I am not actually propelling forward. It prevents me from being able to go out and enjoy the things that I should enjoy doing at twenty four years old. Things like going out, meeting with friends, meeting with family, etc. I have also always been shy. I guess you could say that the two seem to walk hand in hand with each other.
Victoria WadsworthPublished 3 years ago in PsycheThe First Story She Ever Wrote
I watched Titanic the movie for the first time a year after it came out in 1998. I was eight years old and I was too young. The effects this had on my undeveloped brain were profound, so profound in fact I am still dealing with the after-effects 23 years later. “How?” you say could a film have such lasting effects on a child’s brain? Let me tell you! At eight years old I was as naive as naive gets, I blindly trusted those around me who were supposed to protect and care for me but I already had this intense need for belonging and love. My parents were separated when I was four and my mother an alcoholic moved me across the country and fell in love (or trauma bonded) with a hopelessly devastatingly deeply traumatized alcoholic man. She moved him in, married him, and had another child all in a very short few years and I was just along for the ride. My mother always valued having a man over the quality of the man and the effects they may have on her children. So to put it bluntly my mother chose an alcoholic man over me, and for the next decade chose him again and again and again. You can imagine how invalidating of an environment that was for a child to grow up in, constantly being emotionally abused and neglected by the one person who was supposed to care about her in the world. I hated this man for a very long time and hated my mother for taking me away from my biological father and subjecting me to this man’s alcoholism and violent unpredictable behavior. “What does this have to do with the movie Titanic?”. Well My friend I will tell you now. As I sat and watched this very sad and terribly inappropriate movie for an eight-year-old I saw my mother’s relationship playing out on the screen. Cal in the place of my new stepfather, Rose in the place of my mother, and to my great surprise, a wonderfully charming, handsome, and extremely validating young man Jack who although he has no possessions or status or money (all of the things my mother sought in a man aka security) in the world rescues and saves Rose from her terribly abusive relationship with Cal. At that moment my brain idealized Jack and instantly created this fantasy in my head of a man that would love me unconditionally and save me from my life. “That’s what we’re waiting for,” my brain said to me. “We need someone to save us.”. So from then on, that’s what I sought out, intense and passionate connections with people who loved me unconditionally, or at least I thought they would. In my sophomore year of high school, I thought I finally found him, my knight, in shining armor here to save me from my life and myself. Here to love me unconditionally and to live happily ever after with. I’m not exactly sure when the first time I split on him was but I did, any hint of invalidation or disinterest sent me into a spiral of emotions I couldn’t control leading me to knock my knight off of his horse and into the dirt for me to step on. I didn’t know then that I was the toxic one, I didn’t know borderline personality disorder existed, and I definitely didn’t know what splitting was. For those of you who don’t know splitting is a term used in psychology referring to black and white thinking. Something can either be all good, or all bad, idealized or devalued, I love you don’t leave me, I hate you leave me alone. I had no clue I was doing this and no one cared enough to help me figure it out so I went on like this for some time exhibiting this black and white thinking that changed on a dime many other extreme emotional behaviors until one day my knight, the one who was going to save me, cheated on me. I was completely devastated, I hated him for doing it, I hated myself because I obviously wasn’t worth saving, I hated her most of all for being beautiful and perky and blonde, all of the things I would never be. After this, I was very cautious in all of my relationships and I trusted no one, I became certain that no one could ever love me for me. So I stopped being me. I hid all of the parts of myself that I had ever been criticized, bullied, devalued, dismissed, or berated for. I became a shell of myself mirroring the actions, interests, values, and behaviors of those around me changing like a chameleon with each interaction in an attempt to keep people from abandoning me. But they did. Seemingly over and over again. Every romantic relationship and platonic friendship I had eventually left. I was never good enough to be loved unconditionally. I didn’t deserve it and I wasn’t worthy of it, or at least that’s what I thought. I was 31 years old when I was finally diagnosed with borderline personality disorder after I had burnt my entire life to the ground for the hundredth time. I began therapy holding the belief that I was the victim in the situation, that it was all my partner’s fault and they were the villain in my head. I wanted to know why I kept attracting people who weren’t good for me and that I wasn’t good enough for. After a few weeks of therapy and some different assessments, my therapist told me her findings and that there was a very good possibility I was borderline. I struggled with this greatly in the beginning, every time I searched “Borderline personality disorder” on the internet I was met with the stigma of the disorder, information to help friends and family of people with borderline to cope with their toxicity or to leave them completely. All of these articles and books and posts about people with this disorder painting them as the toxic villains of the story. It was extremely devastating for me, but I finally understood why people were always leaving me. The cold hard truth was not an easy pill to swallow, I was the villain, or at the very least toxic. This gave me a new lens to look through my entire life with and everything became crystal clear. There was no doubt in my mind that I had the disorder, I recognized all nine of the qualifying traits in myself. I grew up in the perfect microcosm of narcissistic, invalidating, addiction-filled chaos that would lead to them. My fear of abandonment and self-hatred had led me to behave in toxic ways and with zero self-awareness. It became clear that no one had really left me, I had pushed them all away, in my frantic efforts to avoid abandonment. I am slowly learning how to live with this disorder, and maybe someday I’ll even recover from it but for now, I’ll have to accept it for what it is. I am doing the work, becoming more self-aware each day, gaining confidence and self-respect, doing my best to maintain my relationships with others, practicing gentle parenting (which is the HARDEST thing I’ve ever done but that’s a whole different story), and going to therapy. My life may never look like I thought it would or how I envisioned my story to play out as a child, but I know now that I don’t need a man to save me, the only way I can be “saved” is if I do it myself! I am the author of my own story now and I’m changing the narrative!
Braven MarksPublished 3 years ago in PsycheThe 5 Mental Health Clichés That Actually Work
"Why don't just be happy?", "You just have to go outside.", "You're just bored." Those are the worst and most common "tips" we've heard when we're having mental health challenges. Although the people who say them have good intentions, we already know that none of this helps with mental illness.
Mindsmatter.Published 3 years ago in PsycheBenefits of Sober Living
If you or someone you love is battling a drug or alcohol problem, it's not unusual for some to question the benefits of sober living. After all, it can be difficult to overcome addictions once they've started. The truth is that while treatment can help someone get clean and sober, the process of actually getting clean can often be a long and arduous one. There are also emotional ramifications that come with relapses into addiction, which makes it important for someone struggling to get sober to consider Sober Living in Yakima Wa. This Sober Living program will provide the emotional support a person needs while they work through the withdrawal process and get their life back on track.
Scarlett WPublished 3 years ago in PsycheFinding a Inpatient Drug Rehabilitation Treatment
If you are searching for a suitable drug rehabilitation facility, Chattanooga is one of the foremost centers which have proved itself a trendsetter. It has become quite apparent that a lot of people are now opting for an Inpatient drug rehab in Chattanooga over the conventional outpatient facility. This is perhaps because the social and psychological benefits associated with outpatient programs are far greater than any other mode of treatment. The main reasons why people opt for an Inpatient drug rehab in Chattanooga include a vast array of factors ranging from the physical health to the mental health of the patient. If you or a loved one needs help with substance abuse problems, it is advisable that you contact the confidential and renowned Inpatient drug rehab in Chattanooga. Here are a few of the pros and cons that you would like to consider before opting for the treatment program.
I Feel Awful: Ways to Cope if You Feel Depressed
Depression is a crummy thing. It can strike as the result of a breakup, a job loss, a death, or any number of things. For many people, their brain predisposes them to feel depressed for no reason.
Matthew ManiaciPublished 3 years ago in Psyche