Looking For A Future: Jane’s Story

Tomorrow I take my final exam for my first semester of nursing school.

I am one day away from finishing the first leg of something I almost never started. I am also one day away from maintaining a 4.0 GPA. Instructors, friends, classmates, and my therapist all say they knew I could do it.

When Siblings Become Swords: Trista’s Story

“The patriarchy damages its victims in many ways. In my case, it removed the joy of having those I call family.”

Pleading for Death: Trista’s Story

HA notes: The author’s name has been changed to ensure anonymity. “Trista” is a pseudonym. Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes/Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies/Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee/In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me. I sat between two graves, softly singing this verse over and over. Going

Hurts Me More Than You: Traveler’s Story

“The only way for me to be forgiven and returned to my valued place in the family was to submit to physical pain.”

Hurts Me More Than You: Rachel’s Story

“Being spanked as a child is a large part of why I started self-harming as a teenager.”

Navigating the Justice System, Part Three: As a Young Adult

“Once it was truly clear to me that what happened in my home was abusive and not normal I decided to try to end the abuse for everyone.”

I Cannot Write You a Happy Ending, Part Two: By Slatewoman

“Homeschooling and mental illness are a terrible combination. And chances are, if a parent is mentally ill, the child might as well be too — and this cycle can go on for generations. My way of ending it is to not have children. I don’t want them anyway and I would be a terrible parent. But I don’t want to spread my genes and the proclivities that go along with them.”

The Road to Depression: By RD

“When children are raised with the message that if they have faith in Jesus or live their life according to the Bible then they will be blessed, it creates a very false expectation. Anything bad that happens, any misfortune, becomes interpreted as God’s punishment for not being faithful enough, for failing in your walk with him. I’ve seen this illustrated over and over again.”

I Cannot Write You a Happy Ending, Part One: By Slatewoman

“My mom has been bi-polar for as long as I can remember, but she was diagnosed when I was 10. I remember when she started taking medication for it and things got bad. Real bad. This was back before many long-term studies had been done on the medications she was given, and she was given just about every one under the sun between then and now.”

Growing Kids the Abusive Way: Auriel’s Story, Part Five — The Aftermath of Childhood Abuse

“The effects of the abuse don’t leave… Among us 5 kids, 4 have been suicidal, 4 have been in counseling, 3 have depression, 2 have run away multiple times, 2 have distorted eating and body issues, and 2 have self-harmed. And yet my parents still do not see what they did as traumatizing! If these incredible effects don’t convince them, then nothing will.”