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...
Poetry By Ken Segal
Inside my brain
Inside my brain are pitch black bits,
They cause me to forget.
I got them many years ago,
Do I hate them? You bet!
All sorts...
From Maggie’s Love to IDHS Hell by Marci Webber
Love we shared with exquisite tenderness
With the Dr’s scripts has long since vanished.
They say it wasn’t my responsibility
Not guilty because of acute insanity.
Yet they...
A Blessing for Those Who Have No Choice by Carlene Hill Byron
Peace to those
who are not safe
whose locked doors do not hold
whose words are given no meaning
but are taken for authority
to smash and enter and...
Thank You for the Somatoform Disorder Diagnosis (or Psychiatry Needs Therapy) by Anonymous
The psychiatrist sits across the room
While asking me questions about how the
Medication is going
Seldom looking over at me
As she types my responses at her...
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...
The Price You Pay by Anonymous
If you have never dropped out of school for mental health reasons,
you probably won’t cry tears of joy on the car ride over to...
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.
She Flies With a Broken Wing by Robin Edwards
She flies with a broken wing
looking for a branch to rest on
Somewhere safe to lay her head
waiting for the warmth of dawn,
She knows the branch that welcomes her
even in the dark
She’s nestled there many times
to rest her weary heart,
“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”
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.”
Look Deeper by Craig Wagner
At times my vision is shallow and short-sighted as I see my loved-one cope with the challenges we label mental illness.
At times through shallow eyes I see a future stunted, my loved-one's possibilities not fully realized.
...But then I look deeper.
...There I see unnecessary expectations created by me, held by me, and fully releasable by
...........me.
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.
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.
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.
Third Eye by Katarina Bucic
A secret city exists in your mind, where left brain and right brain bind. In the center of your eyes, but hidden behind, where your consciousness is aligned. The source of awareness for mankind
Word Salad, or You’re a Fool, Doctor, and an Insult to My Intelligence by...
I found meaning
where it was all along
in the living of this moment
the breathing of this breath
the pictures in my mind
in my view of the world
The Killing of Susan Kelly by Dorothy Dundas
The dark-suited man slithered,
Shock box in hand,
To our bedsides, four girls, innocent, naked,
Waiting….waiting….waiting,
Sticky-headed,
One by one.
An American SHAMe by Marci Webber
There was never “an American dream”
Only a nightmare, so it seems.
Such an innocent girl full of belief
In a country from which she now seeks relief.
It is January 20th by Jessica Lowell Mason
The doctor is calling.
She says to you,
without saying,
tell me what I want
to hear,
verify the hastiness
of all my generalizations,
the quick imprecise
diagnoses
and the bias-based
confirmations,
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
Fired for the Truth by Dr. Karan R Gregg Aggarwala
Just yesterday evening they let us know you were gone
Joanne the plans they made for you
Did not go through
The job description just did not...
I WON by Atara Schimmel
i attended your funeral today
in fact i was
the
one
yes, won
that organized it
I Will Fight for You by Atara Schimmel
she
is the one
that i want
the one that
i love
she fights
for justice
like a wild cat
fighting for her cub
fangs and claws
because freedom is everything
Psychotic Akathisia by Marci Webber
This thing that stirs can’t be overcome.
It starts like a steady, aching hum