Immigration is one of the most paramount and notable issues in America today. As a child of immigration, I’m all too familiar with how overlooked individual immigrants, their children, and their families really are, even when granted asylum like my father, my brother, and myself. My story starts as a six-year-old fleeing Haiti, forced to […]
CW: Discussion of mental health conditions such as OCD, suicidal thoughts, eating disorders and more. As we go about our everyday lives, we often overlook the way that language shapes the narratives around us. Not only does speaking about mental health directly contribute to attitudes around it, but there are also words and phrases incorporated […]
Organizations and advocates across the world bring attention to mental health through educating the public and sharing what we can all do to practice self-care and support people living with a mental illness. With mental health becoming more widely recognized over the last few years, more people are advocating for expanding research, starting the tough […]
People can tend to have many different views towards mental health, which can have an effect on how people take care of their mental health as well as helping others. It is estimated that 1 in 4 Americans at the ages 18 and older suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. Stigma […]
Content Warning: Suicidal Thoughts What is depression? Admittedly, this is a question that is far more challenging to answer than one would think, primarily due to the fact that the disorder is not categorical. Instead, it is on a continuum. What is meant by this is that there are various levels of depression, meaning that […]
Starting medications for mental illness can feel like a daunting process, especially if you’ve never had to take such medications before or if you’ve seen stigma attached to them. It can feel even more so if the medications that once worked for you are no longer effective and you find yourself needing to switch to […]
Stigma serves as one of the main reasons people delay seeking mental health care. It consists of misconceptions that label people with mental illnesses as lazy or crazy and causes them to feel rejected from society, even though they are far from alone in their struggles. Not only is stigma hurtful, it’s deadly. Suicide is […]
When I finally came forward to my parents about my struggles, I realized I wasn’t alone. I finally began to start my journey in realizing and coping with the fact that I was one of the 18% of the population who struggles with some form of anxiety and/or depressive disorders.
When I was six years old and my brother was four years old my mother told me how my uncle died. I was told he had a disease in his brain that made him act and feel differently. She told me he would be happy one day and sad the next, that he behaved in […]
The whirring of my professor’s voice swirls around me like a dull warm breeze on a sticky summer day. This is my third time taking this class and I sit in the front row of the lecture hall unable to hear a thing. My hands sweat and my heart knocks against my hollow chest: You. […]