Being me, shamelessly
Off the Beat
The effects of living in a society full of judgment for mentally ill people don’t go away just because you know something shouldn’t be the way it is.
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Breaking up with my psychiatrist
I have never dealt well with change. My usual response to change is to curl into a ball and cease to function until I finally get used to my new reality.
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‘Not sick enough’
Bear in Mind
While my therapist has me rate how I’m feeling on a 1-10 scale each week, there isn’t actually a definitive way to “rank” my mental illness and its severity. Illnesses are relative; what is “severe” for one person is functional for another. Both deserve to receive as much treatment as they need.
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It doesn’t get better (and then, it does)
Bear in Mind
I have received a plentitude of terrible advice in my time as a Chronically Mentally Ill Person. One of my favorite (not at all appreciated) pieces of advice (that is not at all advice) is “It gets better!”
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The thing that almost worked
Bear in Mind
The idea of zapping my brain felt like a last-ditch effort, as though my depression had become an unsolvable problem that required an extreme solution.
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Some things can’t be told: A personal essay
Ghost stories and the affect of trauma
Content warning: The following piece discusses mental illness and eating disorders. I remember having remembered. Thus, what might have otherwise rocked me to my core simply became a way for me to finally explain my penchant for caprice. Just what was missing did not return to me until recently. I
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Awesome people with disabilities to be aware of in popular media
It can be difficult, as a person with a disability, when you don’t see anyone who could possibly be like you in popular media. But recently, these issues have been seen more and more in the public eye. We at the Clog thought we would share a few of our favorite well-known media figures who have disabilities.
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Hilinski’s Hope: Tyler Hilinski’s legacy lives on in Pullman
As the fight to destigmatize mental illness persists, the communities in Upland and Pullman are at the center of that fight — always reminded of what could have been and what to do moving forward.
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‘Beautiful Boy’ is tale of universal heartbreak told through lens of father and son
Van Groeningen’s film “Beautiful Boy” — adapted from David Sheff’s memoir of the same name and Nic Sheff’s “Tweak” — tells two individual stories in conversation with one another. A tale of not just addiction, but of a delicate relationship between father and son, the film moves fluidly between the two narratives.
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Coming out as gay in the wake of sexual assault
On My Mind
What if I was simply repulsed by men, not attracted to women? What if I couldn’t experience my “true” sexual attraction to men because of my association with discomfort?
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