The Day I Became Schizophrenic
Schizophrenia, to me, is nothing more than a word. All it really means is that you experience psychosis on a regular enough basis that it’s a factor in your life. And that you actually do, as the word “schizophrenia” indicates, have a mind that you share with some sort of outside presence.
To Live and (Almost) Die in L.A.: A Survivor’s Tale
After 25 years of chronic emergency, 22 mental hospitalizations, a stint at a “community mental health center,” 13 years in a "board & care," repeated withdrawals from addictions to legal drugs, and a 12-year marriage, I plan to live every last breath out as a survivor, an advocate, and an artist.
What if We All Became Preachers? by Laurenne Kredentser
What if we all became preachers?
Us madfolk
Who’ve been locked up, lobotomized, and drugged into a living death
Who’ve been tied to trees and left to...
Madness, Beauty, Love by Laurenne Kredentser
There’s a beauty in madness
That most will never understand
A love that opens up your heart
To those you never met, never knew, never saw before.
And...
Bedridden by Joey Marino
I can remember certain feelings, but I can’t feel very well.
I can’t hold someone’s hand because my hands over grip. They squeeze very hard....
Psychotic Akathisia by Marci Webber
This thing that stirs can’t be overcome.
It starts like a steady, aching hum
A Middle Finger to Oppression and DBT by Rebecca Donaldson
She (my psychologist) didn’t like me, and I don’t know why
I guess it’s not okay to wish to die
I was told by society I...
Secure Attachment Is a Privilege by Rebecca Donaldson
Having an internal working model of secure attachment from childhood is a privilege.
Yes, it’s a privilege.
It’s a privilege to not carry this hole.
It’s a privilege to feel you truly know who you are.
Statistics for the Social Sciences by Miriam Barr
I had this idea I could join the system
and change it from the inside
but you can’t join the system
and not join the system
A Love Poem for the Girls with ‘Borderline’ by Rebecca Donaldson
I want to write a love poem for the girls who have been branded with, “Borderline.”
I want to write a love poem for the...
Darling Girl by Hannah E
Darling girl,
I wish for you to understand that
The fire in your soul, the kind of love in your heart and the curiosity that drives...
I WON by Atara Schimmel
i attended your funeral today
in fact i was
the
one
yes, won
that organized it
Forgiven, a sonnet by Dan Johnson
Forgiven, a sonnet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't know how to write down my request
or where it has to go to find my boy.
I hope while drifting up...
Mad Women by Rebecca Donaldson
Mad women
Sad women
Neglected
And not accepted
Our experiences of child abuse and suicidal ideation can’t possibly be connected
We are said to be “crazy, hysterical, and abnormal,”
And...
October 1st, 2020 by Hannah E
Today I am 27.
I spent many years of my life in a very dark place. I spent many years suffering without truly understanding why....
Things Not Taught to a Psychology Student or MFT by Rebecca Donaldson
I wish you could see what happened to me
They are things often not taught to a psychology student or MFT
My mother became a drug...
The Hopkins Doctor Diagnoses Me by Ann Bracken
The Hopkins psychiatrist glances up at me,
then looks at my chart.
“I remember the first time—and the second—when the depression lifted
I felt like a party girl.”
How long did that last?
“A couple of days…three, maybe.”
That’s a couple of days too long.
You have all the signs of bipolar II.
A bipolar perspectivist poem by Andrea Grey
one day we may all come to see
that the way I treat you, I treat me it’s disguised from our eyes
and operates energetically
we don’t...
I Am Not Your Pejorative Label by Rebecca Donaldson
I wish you had tried to understand what had happened to me, but in the end, you lacked empathy.
I tried to convey to you...
FOR OVER 27 YEARS NOW by Adam Slosberg
And so, a new morning begins. The same way. Every day. For over 27 years now.
Fear. Fear the police will break down my door....
Survive by Cyndi Schlieger
Running wouldn't help you'd still be yourself. So much noise inside that mind. The never ending urge to flee as if a change of...
“Seniors” Rant by Don Weitz
A rant dedicated to all “seniors” in geriatric wards and nursing homes
we’re sick we’re stuck we’re fucked
we’re labelled we’re libelled
“demented” “incompetent”
An Ode Against “Recovery” by Rebecca Donaldson
An Ode Against “Recovery”: Flourishing After Childhood Trauma by Rebecca Donaldson
I remember when a therapist of mine once told me I could “recover.”
The...
Do Not Swallow the Pill by Anonymous
Do not swallow the pill, This condensed mass of powder That the world has convinced you Will “fix” you, your “problematic” self My darling, you are not broken You are not lost, you are not crumpled You are merely a being living In a society, in a culture That you were never meant to be forced into
Antichrist Priest by David Penner
“You are sick. You are unwell,” said the man in the white coat.
“No rational person believes 9/11 was an inside job. Alas,
You are a very sick man, and we are going to make you well.
We can cure you. We used to burn witches, yet we’ve grown more
Sophisticated in our methods. Now we leave the body intact - but not
The mind. Look at what we did to Julian. No one can escape us.”