I’m quickly approaching 30 weeks pregnant with our first child, and I’ve been thinking about stigma around mental health from what feels like a new angle. I’ve lived with anxiety and mild depression for quite a while, and feel very comfortable talking about how helpful I find a therapist and the fact that I take […]
Depression
Twice in the Psych Unit part 2
(part 1 here) I began a suicide note which I worked on constantly until I had what I would call a nervous breakdown (now called a “major depressive episode.”). I began to shake and a thin, plaintiff wail began to well up inside me. With my cousin Jane rubbing my back to soothe me, I […]
Twice in the Psych Unit part 1
(part 2 here) In 1996, while living and working in Cleveland, Ohio, I was diagnosed with a carotid body tumor – a rare, usually benign growth almost always occurring in men over forty. I was forty one at the time. The otolaryngologist, Dr. Harvey, explained that the risks of cutting along the artery wall were […]