Stage 1: Three of your friends are in therapy and your cousin is starting to see results from CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy.) Every day on your way to work you listen to the podcast where that comedian interviews other comedians about their mental illnesses, then sneak into the office via the rear entrance and try to splash the puffy redness off your face in the basement bathroom. Maybe it’s time to consider some counselling or…
In the shadowy corners of the internet lives a subset of breakup listicles designed to help you diagnose your ex-partners’ psychopathology. Oh, you didn’t know this was a thing? It totally is a thing. According to several recent pieces on sites like the Huffington Post and Thought Catalog, almost everyone who ever dumped you had a personality disorder. These articles will walk you through the process of deciding just how “crazy” your ex was.
This is a love letter to the inner city. This is a love letter to a concept of Chicago that is constantly under attack. This is a love letter to the people in the hood who raised me, sustained me, and supported me. I've been trying to write about Chicago violence for a good two months now. The facts are easy to obtain from any major news source, though the way in which those facts…
At fourteen, my pediatrician prescribed me Lexapro to help with unwanted anxieties and trouble focusing, which began when my father was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer that year. She told me that the meds wouldn't change my personality, and they didn't, at least not in any way I could identify then or now. My father died two years later, and I continued to take Lexapro. I saw a therapist briefly during my father's illness but…
Sometimes when I see media covering a topic that’s familiar to me, I rejoice. It feels like a confirmation and validation—not that I need media to validate my existence, but especially when it’s about a topic I feel shame around, it can be comforting to find that others are dealing with the same thing. When it comes to Interview’s recent hoarding fashion spread, though, I felt the opposite. I’m a hoarder, and while I’ve…
