recent mental health

How to Stay Sober on Vacation

Summer is here and the warmth radiating into the office window conjures up dreams of poolside lounge chairs and remote sun-kissed beaches. While you mentally ...

When Depression Shows Her Face

Why is Depression so heavy? Hanging around in the pit of my stomach, a pulsating orb, a cancer re-emerging after remission. The sorrow is physically ...

I Can’t Stop Picking At My Skin

Mom liked to redecorate and renovate. She decked out the main bathroom in blue and put up yellow and blue wallpaper. The dated linoleum floor ...

Opioids, Dissociation, and PTSD – The Shocking Connections

Endogenous opioids naturally occurring in the human body are different in people with trauma disorders. Post-traumatic stress disorder can make a person feel disconnected from ...

Social Anxiety and Racing Thoughts

I’m at the park again. I sit, hunched over my coverless journal. I ripped the front and back off in a drunken fit of rage ...

How To Travel with Chronic Illness

Chronic illness has a significant stigma attached to it. A lot of chronic health issues go undiagnosed for years. Even when they're given an official ...

domestic violence

Stop Blaming Mental Illness for Gun-Related Violence

It's a perfect scapegoat: if mental illness is the issue and healthcare is a privilege, the solution must be a stronger police state and more ...

Alcohol and Rape Prosecutions: Consent, Intoxication, and Memory

Victim blaming is a defense mechanism for bystanders to feel safe by falsely imagining that it “could be avoided if...” or “that can’t be the ...

Dangerous Words and the Internet

Content Warning: online harassment, online predators, child exploitation   Sometimes you have to go back in order to move forward. Like a mystery novel where ...

The Persuasive Mind Tricks of Abusers

Isolation is the number one tool used by abusers. Isolation breeds desperation nurtured in an environment where an abuser can exercise more control and wield ...

The Truth About Sexual Assault

quick facts on sexual violence in the united states what is sexual violence? sexual violence is both physical and psychological, it encompasses violent and non-consensual ...

Yes, Things Get Worse Before Things Get Better

One thing about trauma in PTSD is that it starts to show itself when you're safe(r) than before. Our brains are working on overdrive trying ...

addictions

Shame, Alcoholism, Stigma, and Suicide

In addiction treatment circles, conventional wisdom suggests we have to let people hit rock bottom before we can help them. But what happens if rock ...

Childhood Trauma, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, and Plastic Surgery Addiction

Many people who have multiple plastic surgeries are looking for self-worth, not correction of a deformity. Most of the time when we talk about addiction, ...

Long Term Effects of Overdoses on the Brain

Despite what we know about how overdoses can kill, there is scant literature regarding chronic health outcomes for people who have survived multiple overdoses. Drug ...

No, You Aren’t a Drug Addict If You Take Antidepressants

If you’ve read the L.A. Times recently, you might have come across an op-ed by journalist David Lazarus, who conflates his dependence on antidepressant medication with ...

8 Super Relatable Songs About Addiction and Recovery 2014-2019

Drug-fueled parties, overdoses, stories of survival and despair. These songs deal with all that and more. There are so many songs celebrating the party lifestyle ...

Finding Meaning in Tragedy: Addiction, Trauma, and Activism

Turning grief into activism is a powerful way to process and give meaning to the pain of traumas like the death of a loved one ...

info sheets

first person, journal entries

emergency contacts

In an emergency call 911
Find more resources here

1-800-799-7233 (SAFE)

200 languages (USA based)
TTY 1-800-787-3224
Online chat

hotline.org

1-866-879-6636 (USWOMEN)

International toll-free
pathwaystosafety.org

In an emergency call 911
Find more resources here

1-800-273-8255 (TALK)

Connect with a local crisis center (USA based)
TTY 1-800-799-4889
Online chat
suicidepreventionlifeline.org

IMAlive

Virtual crisis center
imalive.org

International

Listings of suicide hotlines worldwide
suicide.org
Wiki listing

In an emergency call 911
Find more resources here
 

1-866-331-9474

Help with dating abuse for teens (USA based)
Online chat
Text “LOVEIS” to 22522
loveisrespect.org

1-800-422-4453 (4-A-Child)

Child abuse hotline (USA based)
childhelp.org

1-866-488-7386

LGBTQ youth crisis intervention and suicide prevention
Online chat
Text “Trevor” to 1-202-304-1200
thetrevorproject.org

In an emergency call 911
Find more resources here

Crisis Text Line

24/7 support
Text: “HOME” to 741741
crisistextline.org

1-800-273-8255

Crisis call center (USA based)
Text: “ANSWER” to 839863
crisiscallcenter.org