If-Then Plan
I’m putting together this action plan. Because it’s way easier to talk about this now, when I’m in good health and thinking straight, than in the situation that could occur if depression comes after me again.
Topic: suicide
Future Tense
I’m writing to you from the inside. From the mouth of the lion. The bottom of the well. It’s dark down here, and it’s lonely. But we’re here together. And I’m telling you: there’s something better waiting for us.
Finding Common Ground
For me, being isolated was the scariest thing. The days I felt most depressed and suicidal were only enhanced when I isolated myself; when I decided that no one wanted to hang out with me or loved me. Those days were the worst.
The Response You Deserve
It takes a boldness to say that your brain is sick. That you need help. That you can’t do whatever this is alone anymore.
I’m Just Tired: When I Discounted Depression
I’m not depressed, I’m just tired. Preston isn’t coming back, I know this now. I’ve accepted this, and there’s no basis for any depression to occur within me. Everything is as okay as it will be, and we all just have to keep going. I’m not depressed.
To Hope Is to Fight
My name is Michelle and I have Major Depressive Disorder. It’s severe and it’s recurrent. But I am not my depression, and my depression is not me. MDD is a part of my story, but it isn’t my identity.
Being Christian and Living With a Mental Illness
I’m writing about this because the stigma surrounding mental illness, especially in Christian communities, keeps people locked in prisons of shame, refusing to admit that they need help.
Illogical Truth
I want you to understand this: If you are in the pits of depression, if you are suicidal, if any of the above spoke to you, depression is lying.
To the Girl Who Wrote My Suicide Note
This letter is a reminder to the girl who wrote my suicide note. It is a reminder to myself: I am worth it, even when I don’t believe it. I am worth it.
What I Do Know
By remaining seated, I decided my life was worth holding onto. I was choosing to believe I mattered enough to do the work that had to follow...
Instead of Killing Myself, I Called a Suicide Hotline
You call and wait to be connected, and after that minute or so wait, you speak to an elder Black woman, elder because you can hear the age and timbre of her experienced voice, and hear her breath while you cry and sob and weep in public...
A Veteran’s Truth About PTSD
It was devastating, in a single moment I felt that I had lost everything. Never in a million years would I have thought that I’d suffer from such a diagnosis.
