Editor’s note: If you or a loved one are living with depression, bipolar, and/or thoughts of self harm the following post could be potentially triggering. If you are overwhelmed or in pain you can contact the Crisis Text Line by texting “HOME” to 741741. Meet Jen……
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Before she was diagnosed with ADHD, Terry Matlen spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was wrong with her. “I felt like a failure,” she says. “I wondered how come I couldn’t do what every other woman I knew could…
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On paper, Kitt O’Malley is a typical overachiever. She loved school as a kid and attended Berkeley, earning a bachelor’s degree in legal studies. She went on to earn a master’s in psychology from a private college and studied theology at Fuller Seminary….
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Editor’s note: If you or a loved one are living with eating disorder(s), borderline personality disorder, or have experience with self harm the following post could be potentially triggering. You can contact the Crisis Text Line by texting “HOME” to 741741 or call the National Suicide Prevention…
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This comic by Tatiana Gill was inspired by comments and stories from Health Stories Project community members who are living with mental illness. Sign up to share your experiences with Health Stories Project!
Editor’s note: If you or a loved one are living with depression the following post could be potentially triggering. You can contact the Crisis Text Line by texting “HOME” to 741741 or call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255. Jennifer shares what it was like to…
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Editor’s note: If you or a loved are living depression the following post could be potentially triggering. You can contact the Crisis Text Line by texting “HOME” to 741741 or call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255. A new project from award-winning photographer Walter Smith…
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Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) was once called “multiple personality disorder.” It’s a serious, rare condition in which a person’s identity is fragmented into distinct personalities. This post about life with DID was submitted by a Health Stories Project community member. Click here to…
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Rain Blu was a young mother working as an emergency services dispatcher when she began to experience debilitating anxiety and bouts of dissociation. She’d get stuck in high panic mode for days on end. She started to wonder if she were going crazy….
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If someone you love is dealing with depression you might feel helpless, confused, overwhelmed, hopeless, frustrated, or even angry. You simply might not know what to do. We’ve rounded up tips on how to be there for your loved one from Health Stories…
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For people with schizophrenia, diagnosis can be a relief — all those symptoms finally start to make sense – but also a devastating and life-altering moment. Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental disorder characterized by thoughts and experiences that are out of…
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About a month ago we published a post called Why Don’t Colleges Offer Depression 101? that received quite a few negative comments on Facebook. It was an interview with college professor, Jennifer Ganyo, about her experiences with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), the stigma…
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For a lot of college students, freshman year can be the hardest. Tougher schoolwork, making new friends, living away from home for the first time – it all hits you at once. But for Jennifer Ganyo, it wasn’t until she was a sophomore…
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When most people think a negative “what if” thought, it passes quickly without leaving a lasting impression. But for people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), that thought can manifest into an obsession and they’re often left living in constant fear that something terrible will…
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You’ve no doubt heard of Pokemon Go, the augmented reality game sweeping the nation. If you live in any sort of populated area it’s likely that you’ve even seen players out on the street capturing, battling, and training their characters. These players are…
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Imagine never feeling safe. Simply closing your eyes can cause you to relive the worst moments of your life in vivid detail. This is how some people have described living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). According to U.S. Department of Federal Affairs,…
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Whoever said “laughter is the best medicine” probably wasn’t a doctor. Or at least I’m glad they aren’t one of my doctors. If I think I might have a broken leg, I’m going to the emergency room for x-rays before I start my…
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During the month of May NAMI, Mental Health America, and similar organizations across America team up to bring awareness to mental health illnesses such as depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. While mental health issues are important to discuss year round, during this month…
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We all get stressed out from time to time – long hours at work, challenges in our personal lives, health problems, even traffic jams can send blood pressures rising. Stress is unavoidable. Luckily, there are countless tools and resources available to help reduce…
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We’ve all done it. You know that someone is facing a difficult situation so you say something to try to help. It comes from a good place. You genuinely want things to get better for them. The problem is that what we say…
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Health Stories Project was created to give people opportunities to share their personal health experiences and to learn from the experiences of others.