by Veneranda Aguirre Depression first hit me when I was in fourth grade. I didn’t know it was depression. People didn’t talk about it back in the 1980s. And they certainly didn’t give the diagnosis to children. But as a child with undiagnosed autism, I suffered from massive anxiety and depression that kept me up at nights, crying into my pillow out of frustration and fear. As I grew into an adult, depression morphed into irrational anger. If I couldn’t…
by Genevieve Lowles It was a Friday in May when I made the phone call. A bright and dusty morning, I’d just passed the crowded entrance of Stockwell tube station in London. There are so many people, full of direction and purpose. I’m on the way to work, because it’s 8:30 in the morning, and that’s what I do at that time. My head is full of voices, wordless chattering and the sound of my own uneven breathing. It churns…
by Andrea Crowley-Hughes One “cannot discover new oceans unless [they] have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” – Andre Gide (modified to be friendlier to other genders than “he”) When you’re traveling with anxiety, sometimes this quote makes a ton of sense, and other times it just sounds impossible. It can feel delightful to arrive at your destination, greeted by place names and accents the mind can curl around and explore until the words become familiar. In my…
An Interview with Dr. Christine James by Lauren Jonik Last fall during election season, I noticed that the more I watched the news or scrolled through my Facebook feed, the more stressed out I felt. Though I think cultural dialogue is crucial in a democracy, it seemed that I was witnessing a kind of unraveling. Instead of people talking about issues, friendships were fraying at the seams. What was once a fun way of connecting had turned into a political minefield,…