Labeled, Medicated, Misdiagnosed — Until I Rewired My Own Brain
I’m not a doctor. I’m a patient. But I solved what six psychiatrists could not.
Why I Kept Going Back: Breaking Free From Trauma Bonds
Breaking free from trauma bonds is a process of doubt, pain, and courage. It’s learning to trust yourself again after years of confusion.
On Love in America
After I nearly died during open-heart surgery, I realized that there is no room in this second life for anything but gratitude — and love.
Trauma Survivors Speak Out Against Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
Despite the majority of the individuals being sent to DBT having histories of severe childhood trauma, little about DBT treatment is “trauma-informed.”
Are We Sober Yet?
I asked my psychiatrist if the Lexapro could be making it harder for me to stop drinking. He laughed and assured me that it was impossible.
A Manner of Speaking
A cinematic prose poem that uses metaphor and symbol to capture the essence of experiences for which there are no words.
Two Years Later: My TMS Story, From Gaslighting to Finding My Voice
This didn’t feel like a temporary adjustment phase. It felt like my brain was glitching.
Community, Ethics, and Healing Amidst the Great Unraveling
If our treatment is only aligned with the individualist reductionist model, we are unwittingly contributing to destruction.
When Repair Doesn’t Come: A Trauma Survivor Reflects on a Rupture With Her Therapist
I spent years in therapy slowly learning how to feel safe with another human being. But then came the rupture.
Blindsided by Benzos: Had I Known
Doctors are not disclosing the harrowing truth that discontinuing these medications can plunge patients into relentless mental and physical torment.
Conceptual Synaesthesia as Cognitive Literacy   Â
I don’t just feel things; I translate them. For those of us who experience it, it is not a novelty. It is a structure for thinking.
The Betrayal of Professionals with Lived Experience
I know that being “out” at work could help challenge stereotypes and reduce stigma but I hide. I have that luxury.
Antipsychotics—And How I’ve Learned to Manage the Side Effects
While suppressing pathological symptoms, drugs also suppress the normal instinct of "wanting to move" and "wanting to enjoy life".
The Death of Joey Marino
There needs to be more informed consent with these medications. If Joey was more aware of the potential side effects at the very beginning, I feel he would still be here today.
Reflections on My Mistrust for Other Mental Health Workers
I learned to hold my tongue around mental health workers. I dealt with their slurs by working harder and longer than them.
They Called It Psychiatry – I Call It Punishment
I was fighting something far more dangerous than madness — I was fighting a culture of fear and suppression masquerading as mental health care.
From Wonder Drug to Catastrophe: My Seroquel Story
What my doctor had told me would be a two-week withdrawal from Seroquel turned into a 14-month nightmare with lasting repercussions: the movement disorder tardive dyskinesia.
The Wound That Speaks
In my case, writing was the beginning of healing. It pulled me out of the abyss and gave me structure, voice, and purpose. It gave me a sense of authorship over a life hijacked by memory.
The Degrees on the Wall
The therapists who helped me most weren’t the ones who dazzled with their knowledge. They were the ones who made me feel less alone.
Green Star Mother Demands Answers from VA Secretary
If the Veterans Administration is sincere in wanting to reduce veteran suicides, the first place to start is to collect information following these deaths to try to better understand the causes.
You’re Not Crazy
I want others who have PTSD to know that, yes, recovery is tough going, but you can rebuild trust in the world and your future.
How the Troubled Teen Industry Turns Pain Into Profit
These programs, though marketed as "therapeutic," are nothing more than profit-driven enterprises that exploit families at their most desperate.
I Have a Night Life: When Doctors Become Fathers, and Fathers Become Patients
Dad, it’s going to be okay, I say. Dad, you have delirium. He is losing his mind. And so am I. At night time.
Dear Psychiatrist – I Survived
It took me over 20 years to believe in myself enough to walk away from psychiatry and psych drugs and regain my life. I not only survived, but I am also thriving.
Elizabeth Loftus, False Memories and the Search for My True Self
A cautionary tale about the largely unconscious need for power and dominance that mental health clinicians have over patients’ narratives, especially for children and adolescents.
