I Am Not My Inheritance
While I was close to my mom growing up, my father was emotionally absent and only seemed happy when he was highly intoxicated. Like a ghost, he came and went. I only saw him briefly before he left for work and after he came home, or during the weekends as he binge drank in the […]
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Losing My Brother
Names have been changed. My brother Thomas is only three years older than me. We didn’t feel close to our mom, our stepfather, or our dads. So growing up, it felt like it was just the two of us. We had so much fun playing video games, basketball, and other games we created. One was […]
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How I Beat My Depression
At the end of 4th grade, my parents divorced. My dad moved into his mother’s house temporarily. My mom, my older sister, and I moved in with her boyfriend and his family, which included his 8- and 6-year-old sons, his mother, his two male cousins, and his 22-year-old brother. At first it was nice to […]
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I’m Learning to Live With Schizophrenia
I first heard voices when I was about 11. I thought everyone had them. When I was 15, I tried to kill myself because my mother went to jail. I had gone into care the year before, and I feared I would never live with my family again. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety […]
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