mental health

Unlike my childhood, near-daily exposure to fatphobia is not safely in my rearview mirror. That makes healing all the harder. Image: author.

Take The Cake: Fatphobia Gave Me PTSD

I think a lot of us are probably walking around with mild PTSD, anxiously calculating risk and making plans about what and who to avoid.... Even though I’m no longer technically walking the halls of junior high, I am living in a fitness-obsessed city that doesn’t feel as safe as it ought to considering almost everyone is over age 13.

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While I didn’t get in trouble, and they let the underage drinking slide, I could feel judgment. I didn’t report my attempted attack. Image: Mamamia team, author.

I Was Almost Raped — And When I Spoke Out, Ended Up With Zero Friends.

I know he did not finish our program duration. I know that I finished the program with no friends, and very few people who even believed me. I consider myself very lucky to have survived the situation with mostly just a bruised ego, but I will always feel guilty.

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“The police shooting of ‪Charles Kinsey last week [as of writing] exposed the myth of policing as a viable response to crisis scenarios in the United States.” Image: by Daniel Arauz/Flickr.

Not Everyone Thinks Funneling More Resources Into Police 'Training' Is Solution to Racist Violence

Some human rights campaigners argue that now is an important time to scrutinize federal funding of highly-militarized police trainings in the Miami area that may contribute to surrounding police agencies’ aggressive tactics.

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The story wasn’t just promoting some harmless diet... it was exalting extreme disordered-eating behaviors — with just enough of a mask put on it to confuse vulnerable readers. Image: Thinkstock.

Disordered Eating Isn't Self-Care — And We Need To Stop Treating It As Such

Most days, I find good reasons to be optimistic about the way diverse figures are celebrated in the media.

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They are not yet aware that he’s gone. I know it’s only a matter of time before they figure it out. Image: Thinkstock.

Ask Erin: My Husband Left Me And The Kids Suddenly — What Do I Do?

My husband of 11 years recently and suddenly left me and our two children, ages 2 and 6. They are not yet aware that he’s gone. They think he’s traveling for work. I know it’s only a matter of time before they figure it out.

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I want to feel and share deeply, intimately. I can’t admit any of this out loud. Image: Thinkstock.

Denial Won't Help Me Recover From Trauma

[M]y therapist pointed out there’s a huge discrepancy in the way I present myself. On the one hand, I am a successful working person who seems fine and normal. On the other hand, I have a hard time with basic self-care and very often experience dissociation, depression, and anxiety as a result of sexual trauma and PTSD. And between these seemingly different people is a huge gap occupied by denial.

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What exactly is it that gives a date so much power?  Image: Adina Voicu/Pixabay.

Commemorating The Anniversary Of My Trauma Helped Me Heal From It

March is always an awful month for me. In Cape Town — my home town — March marks the beginning of autumn. Summer’s exhilarating heat comes to a sobering end. Sweltering afternoons and nights spent around the fire ominously disappear, soon to be replaced by gusts of winds and air so cold it literally hurts your face.

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(This is the "mental health facility," by the way. Even if the sheriff's office hadn't fucked up the paperwork, the attorney's office failed this woman.)  Image: npr.org

Why Was This Rape Victim Imprisoned By A Texas Court For A Month?!?

In what might be the WTF-iest story in the history of WTF, a woman in Texas is suing the state for wrongly imprisoning her for a month, during which time she was subjected to physical and mental abuse at the hands of guards and other prisoners. What was her crime? Being a rape victim who suffered a mental collapse while testifying.

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