Mental Health Aloud

Throw Pillows and Coffee Mugs: Accoutrements of Trauma, Abuse, and Recovery

Alan Caldwell has been collecting stories about his history of abuse and trauma and family for years, but only recently begun writing them down.

The...

Losing Her Saved Me: How I Healed From Trauma

This mental health recovery story focuses on Amanda’s journey with OCD, Anorexia, Complex PTSD, trauma and grooming. Amanda had to cut off her mother...

Bipolar Disorder, Independence, and Living in the 21st Century as a 20th Century Woman

Lena Walton was always shushed by society—no talking about her undiagnosed bipolar disorder, nor about independence as a woman. Only now, following...

For this African American Man; there is Light, Even with Bipolar Schizophrenia

Men in the Black community are viewed as weak if they seek mental health treatment, but Derrick McQueen, a Black man with bipolar schizophrenia, didn’t...

How I Learned I had Bipolar Disorder, or, “The Unpleasantness”

Sheila O’Shea triumphantly shouted, “I called it!” when she was finally diagnosed with bipolar disorder II; a mental health diagnosis she always...