Mental Health Aloud — Editor in Chief Gabriel Nathan reads our latest mental health recovery essay.
Gabe’s welcoming voice brings each essay to life, making MHA your perfect commuting companion. Pop in your earbuds and subscribe to MHA wherever you listen to podcasts!
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Anxiety & Trauma Poems
Faced with trauma and grief, writer Laura Farrell turned to poetry to process her experiences.
Done Running: a Budding Pharmacist Confronts Her Eating Disorder & Sexuality
Jules Aukerman, a budding pharmacist, confronts her sexuality and her eating disorder in this genuine, compassionate essay.
Misunderstood, Misdiagnosed, Misled: My Story of Illness and Addiction
Christina faced issues with addiction and the law, due to underlying mental issues, eventually with the proper help and diagnosis she learned to tackle these issues.
Knock, Knock. Who’s There? OCD.
Megan Fisher tried in vain to conceal her OCD behaviors from those closest to her, and therapy wasn’t the magic cure-all, until she found hope and help, compassion and change.
Mind Games: Depression & Anxiety Gripped My Father; COVID Nearly Took Him Away
Khadija grew up with two hard-working, loving parents, it was later in life that she experienced the impact of her father’s depression.
When Running From The Voices In Your Head Takes You Someplace New
Avis Yarbrough considers herself “shy” and “timid,” someone who stays at home. But when she first started hearing voices in her late twenties, she was catapulted on a trip she would have never taken otherwise.
Depression and Mental Illness: Disease or Condition?
A man wrestles with whether his depression and suicidality are diseases or conditions in this introspective and far-reaching essay.
Forgiving the Hurt: What Does it Mean to Forgive Our Abusers?
Alicia McClendon has been parsing out the word “forgiveness” for some time now. Can you forgive your own mother for causing you childhood trauma? And what does it mean to forgive while still holding on to your truth?
Melancholy & Cinnamon; A Journey through Mental Hell, and How Poetry Saved my Life
Gabrielle Guillon has come a long way from growing up with depression and abuse as her constant companions; poetry has helped her heal.
How Living With Depression Influences My Personal Growth
Onome felt a lack of support in her childhood, which quickly spiraled into depression, although it was hard to find treatment in Nigeria and Ghan, she eventually got the help she needed.
Deciding to Get Better: The Choice to Fight Schizoaffective Disorder
Cheyenne Ruiz spent much of her adolescence fighting panic attacks, working through depression, and pretending hallucinations weren’t happening. One hallucination pushed her to take recovery into her own hands.
A Goodbye Call in a Summer Afternoon: Noticing Suicide Warning Signs May Be the Difference Between Life and Death
When her uncle called trying to give a cryptic goodbye, Thaís Freita noticed suicide warning signs and saved a life.
Labeling Abuse in a Borderline Relationship
Two people with borderline personality disorder begin a romantic relationship that quickly becomes toxic, out-of-control, desperate, and dangerous.
Is This What Normal Feels Like? Finding the Right Treatment for Bipolar Disorder
Aneta Dabrowska felt the ups and downs of bipolar type II as a teenager, but no one around her knew how to react. When she entered adulthood, Aneta set on a journey to understand her illness on her own terms.
Sincerely, Madness: A Marine Confronts Rape and Self-Harm to find Strength and Hope
Being a Marine is supposed to put you through Hell and test your will, but not by subjecting you to rape by two different superior officers. Years later, Joyce Villeta is recovering and living through her trauma.
Sanguine: Attempting to Control Everything through Disordered Eating
Kate’s eating disorder started with a desire to control her body and quickly spiraled into something else, learning to reconnect to her body, Kate found her way to healing.
Postnatal Depression, Regular Old Depression, and How Mindfulness Saved Me
Shannon McBride has felt the fog of depression and anxiety nearly her whole life, until an accidental run-in with a pamphlet at the post-office changed her life.
Recovering from Depression; a Taboo Illness in Indian Society
Depression in India, for women in particular, is still a taboo topic, with women being blamed and shamed for what they experience, as Aakanksha Shukla writes.
How I Overcame My Social Anxiety by Becoming a Journalist
Victor’s social anxiety felt debilitating and out of control, until he found and embraced journalism, a new tool for managing these difficult emotions.
During the Pandemic, a Retired Psychiatrist Finds a New Challenge; His Own Mental Health
Bereft of meaningful activities during the pandemic, a recently retired psychiatrist explores his mental health decline and the difference between acedia and depression.
Coloring Sadness: What We Lose, and Find, in a Psychiatric Hospital
Hospitalized for a major depressive episode, Katie Thomas looked into the eyes of broken people and saw herself.
Where’s Mamma? One Woman’s Struggle with Postpartum Depression
Robin lived the “perfect life” and was excited to welcome her new baby boy, quickly after his birth Robin noticed a shift in how she felt. As her postpartum worsened, Robin did not know what to do and eventually sought help.
After a Suicide Attempt: What a Difference a Dad Makes
After a suicide attempt, Chris Brown, a young man living in England, realized that having a father who could hear him and be with him in that moment, made all the difference.
To Hell and Back, a Man’s Struggle with Suicidal Ideation
While hospitalized under the mental health act, Dominic found himself feeling hopeless and desperate to end his mental pain, read his story to learn how he moved through the pain and found hope again!
Falsehoods, Delusions, and Lies: My Life with Schizoaffective Disorder and Anxiety
Living with schizoaffective disorder and anxiety, Leif Gregersen was hospitalized numerous times. Now he is a compassionate and vocal advocate for those in need of a voice.
Why I Ignored a Bipolar Diagnosis in my 20s… and What I Learned in my 30s
Chris Russell, an actor living with bipolar disorder, writes about medication, realizations, acceptance, and managing his mental health.
Good Thoughts for a Better Mind: How Psychoanalysis Transformed My Life
Years of traditional therapy didn’t do much to quell Daniela Silva’s existential dread and fear of smiling. It took a dose Freud to spur her journey forward.
I Felt Safer in a Psychiatric Hospital During the Pandemic
The national fatigue and anxiety caused by the COVID-19 pandemic felt all too familiar to Jennifer, who is diagnosed with bipolar and has experienced mania.
With Depression, Anxiety, and Lyme Disease; My Dream is Survival
Max Noir lives with anxiety, depression, and chronic lyme disease, but she has not let these conditions diminish her capabilities, limit her travel, or her love of life.
Anxiety: Irrational, Illogical, Catastrophic and, Eventually; Manageable
After silently living with anxiety and panic attacks, therapy and medication helped Nicci Attfield, from South Africa, find her voice.