“If you feel like this again, call and I’ll talk you off the ledge.’ I was ashamed to admit I was having thoughts of harming myself. It triggered something I have never experienced: intense rage.”
‘I smashed the window while holding my son. ‘Go buy essential oils,’ the nurse told me. I was pushed aside.’: Mom of 2 advocates for postpartum depression, ‘There’s no need to suffer in silence’
‘I was shut upstairs, locked away. ‘There must be something wrong with me.’ Sex was learned from books. I felt unsafe.’: Woman leaves past life, walks 500 miles, ‘I let others love me’
“At 12, my grandmother looked me in the eye and said, ‘If you want to go to the gym, I’ll pay. I think you need it.’ I was the girl who drank 25 shots in a row and took her clothes off in a room full of people. I felt dead inside.”
‘Something’s wrong.’ She’d stop breathing. We’d have a blue baby in our arms. The whirlwind had just begun.’: Baby diagnosed with ‘ultra rare’ Gould Syndrome, ‘She lives a joy-filled life’
“It’s probably not a big deal.’ The team was stumped. They decided to do an ultrasound just for good measure. Our world was shattered in that moment.”
‘I just want you to know, we are the family who adopted your son.’ She hadn’t gone a single day without thinking about him. ‘Can you be here in 2 weeks?!’: Adopted boy surprised with biological mom, now part of beautiful open adoption
“I told my son, ‘Your present is in the van, you can go get it.’ He stopped dead in his tracks and exhaled, ‘Mom?’ He took off sprinting into her arms, sobbing.”
‘This isn’t normal behavior.’ His lip marks were all over the window. She saved me that night.’: Mother survives grief predator with daughter’s help, ‘There is hope’
“‘Just stop it! Act normal! I don’t even know this person you’re acting like!’ I was sitting firmly in the ‘acute sorrow, helplessness, hopelessness, depression, and despair’ section. I suffered greatly at the hands of this man, and so did my child.”
‘Please, tell me where you are.’ I’m adamant. ‘I don’t want help.’ I hang up the phone. Tears were streaming down my face. It was time.’: Woman’s suicide attempt ends in miracle survival, ‘You can choose to live’
“My girlfriend of 3 years finally left me. After all the hurt and pain I’d caused, she finally walked out the door. I jumped in my car and sped down to Walmart. I needed a gun. My brain went back to panic mode. I got in my car and just started driving. My ex had called the cops.”
‘A guy passed me and asked, ‘Are you okay?’ I was preparing to jump into the cold lake and end everything once and for all.’: Suicide attempt survivor urges ‘the sun will shine again for you’
“My body was shaking. Handful after handful of pills, I could feel myself fading away. I remember the familiar sound of sirens blaring. ‘Lay still!’ I cried and screamed and tried to fight as they held me down. The nurse said, ‘I have to do this if I’m going to save your life and I have every intention of doing just that.’ I was begging to die.”
‘I’m fine! I have it figured out!’ I struggled in secret as I hid behind my smile. I woke up in a suicide room.’: Woman shares her ADHD journey to make mental health ‘less secretive and stigmatized’
“My therapist couldn’t fit my hours. I didn’t bother finding a new one because, ‘I’m fine!’ Then, I hoped the floor would open up and I would just disappear. These awful, yellow, smiley hospital socks were staring up at me.”
‘My teeth were turning yellow. ‘Mommy, why are you so tired all the time? You don’t get out of bed.’: Mom battling depression says ‘I am living proof it gets better’
“When my mom walked in and saw me with the pills I had found, scattered across the bed, I knew I had hit rock bottom. I couldn’t even look her in the eyes. I remember sitting in the hospital, my whole family waiting outside. ‘I feel like nothing ever gets better.’ I am living proof it gets better.”
‘Too bad she’s gay!’ I was just a freak, or ‘the attention seeking weirdo.’: Vet survives abuse, depression, ‘I am not broken’
“I drank A LOT. I lost weight, bleached my hair, got tattoos, and tried to become a whole different person. I have a lot of ‘labels.’ But I am not disorderly. I am not broken.”
