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...
Hearts Are Meant to be Fed Love, Not latrogenic Harm 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...
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...
Broken Down Hallways by Abby Abbott
Battered and bloody
locked up
locked down
in your broken down hallway
“where is the exit?” I ask
“Its in your hand” says the nurse
“the little yellow pill”
“Take it...
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...
Dear Doctor (Unsent Letters) by Rose Y.
Dear Doctor,
Can we please rewind,
slip back in time?
To the first time that we spoke.
You say you don’t remember me
It’s no trouble,
Let’s refresh your memory
I’m...
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...
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....
The Impasse by Devin S. Turk
Some say I am explaining
the anti-psychiatry movement
to my psychiatrist,
but I can only tell you:
On the kitchen stove
a tea kettle is screaming
and no one is...
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...
Everything is Tammy by Ms. Dangerfield
Me alive apparently - not sure.
Jonah potential danger Dr. Ivorchuck is being paged.
That's Shawn's voice. Dr. Oram- or him? I might have HIV so...
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.
