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This article is a double debut, both in discussing my OCD as a journalist, and writing about the disorder in relation to my poetry....

Trigger warning: this blog discusses mental health struggles and suicidal thoughts. Even though I’m a journalist by trade, until now, I...

Many people are scared to speak up about their mental illness. Perhaps it’s because they haven’t processed the fact that they have a mental health issue — but often it’s because they’re scared of the reaction. I remember years ago, when I was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder, experiencing worries about telling people that I had been diagnosed. I was worried that I wouldn’t be believed, and I was worried that people would just tell me to “get over it”. I was also worried

I can’t remember when I first started worrying about the idea of ‘going mad’, but by my late teens it had become such a deep-rooted fear...

My mental health issues started when I was young. When I was four years old, I experienced seeing things that were not there, and hearing voices. At the time, for reasons unknown; and my teens were filled with mood swings. I was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. I also live with a chronic illness called ulcerative colitis; a form of inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation of the colon and rec

I was first introduced to musical theatre when I was about 8 by my Papa — he had the Les Misérables soundtrack and after finding myself...

I was working as an assistant teacher in English in my hometown Qingdao, in China’s eastern Shandong province, during the summer before...

Sharing a part of yourself is never easy. Raising awareness for matters that are not widely discussed, especially amongst young women,...

Aristotele once said that “the aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inner significance; for this,...

From a young age, I always wanted to perform. As a toddler, my mum put me in all of the ‘little girl’ classes — ballet, gym-bunnies, the...

Modelling is exciting until you experience it yourself. There are many hidden agendas that made me question the industry itself. I...

I was very unwell with bulimia nervosa as a teenager. I felt insignificant next to my friends. I received comments on the size of my legs from horrible boys and I’d hate getting changed in the same room as my mates because I’d constantly compare myself to them. It was a feeling that had followed me my whole life, receiving comments on my weight from as early as four years old. I was always the bigger sister, in age and in size, and for me, the way my body looked had always st

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental health condition that severely affects a person’s mood. It is a relapsing-remitting condition. It...

I remember sitting on my sofa in front of the television gazing past the screen. I wasn’t myself. I’d been feeling very low, and had been going through a depressive episode with my bipolar disorder. I remember feeling numb, as if I wasn’t really present. Like my body was floating above me as the world kept spinning around. I’d been experiencing suicidal ideation. But it was odd. I didn’t want to be here anymore, but I also didn’t want to die. I wasn’t afraid of dying, but it

I’ve always been someone who loves going out. To events with friends, for sleepovers, out shopping, clubbing, you name it. I was confident. I had been dealing with mental health issues for a long time, but from the ages of 18–23 I was outgoing. And then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and it all changed. I had my son last April, and started experiencing postnatal depression and perinatal anxiety symptoms quite quickly. I remember having the baby blues pretty roughly — crying at ab

I was 12 years old when I started starving myself. By the time I was 13, I had a full eating disorder. My eating disorder has lasted...

Sleeping constitutes around one-third of our lifetime. To put this statistic into perspective, if you live until 70 years old, around 27...

As we make our way through lockdown 3 there is good reason to be feeling all manner of emotions. The upheaval we have all felt has come...

“Hello? Can you hear me?” was not something I thought I would be saying in the middle of my counselling session. Yet here I was, in my...

Drowning — Swimming through the Crushing Weight of Suicide What is the Problem? — a Mountain to Overcome but a Mountain Nonetheless...

I am 60 years old. I have lived with bipolar disorder since I was 21. It has been a difficult and bumpy ride. Looking back, it seems...

If you could go back in time, what do you wish you had learnt to increase your confidence in navigating your mental health? Being in my...

Eating disorders thrive in times of crisis. They pounce on any disruption to everyday life and turn your recovery on its head, and I know...

Before we start to really dive in, I have a bit of a confession to make: I think I’m a perfectionist. Ok, well maybe it wasn’t the...