“I’ve been in some very dark places. Different times and different things, over the course of my life. Thought about ending things. Attempted to end things. Thankfully, I openly talked about it. I’m okay with talking about extremely uncomfortable things. Not everyone is.”— Jean Grae, twitter.com
“Depression will whisper in your ear. I can’t say 'don’t listen' because I know sometimes it’s a shout and you can’t help it. But there are other, better voices. I try to hear them instead.”— Olivia A. Cole, twitter.com
“If you feel like you can’t cope, there’s no shame in seeking therapy. You’re great and we want you to stick around, and there are people who can help you.”— Celeste Ng, twitter.com
“Every time I go to see my therapist, I think about how lucky I am that I’m able to do this, and wish therapy was just provided automatically to everyone, as preventative care.”— Celeste Ng, twitter.com
“What people don’t understand is that suicidal people aren’t acting out of selfishness – on the contrary, they feel that the world would be better off without them. They may be struggling with extreme depression, feelings of isolation, the effects of complex trauma or abuse, mental health issues, wor…”— Shahida Arabi, thoughtcatalog.com
“What does it say about the continuing stigma of mental illness that so many of us feel comfortable discussing our illegal drug use, but depression is a secret too embarrassing to share?”— Ayelet Waldman, medium.com
“find the pocket of your heartbeat where you keep forgiveness. we will try again tomorrow”— Ashe Vernon, latenightcornerstore.com
“Anxiety is like that mean girl from junior high who was always there to point out my flaws, only she lives inside my head.”— Bridget Todd, manrepeller.com
“I have seen the heart of the world. I cannot un-see it. I look at it daily, and think about it all the time.”— John Gorman, medium.com
“Anxiety isn't being nervous. Anxiety is being in a situation that others find fine but your stomach is in knots and your mind is on fire. Anxiety is looking around you and convincing yourself that everyone hates you. Anxiety is every terrifying scenario compacted into one moment.”— Aaron Gillies, twitter.com
“Whenever we lose an artist as a result of their mental illness it is hard, particularly when the artists has helped me and so many others briefly unravel ourselves from the yarn of our own mental illnesses.”— Hanif Abdurraqib, twitter.com
“Somewhere inside me, there still lives a little girl who once tried to invent a time machine, just to go back in time to save Vincent Van Gogh from his sadness.”— Nikita Gill, instagram.com
“Acne isn’t something that you should suffer from in silence. There may not be a way to cure it 100%, or even forever, but there are ways to try and manage it. And if you feel like your mental health is taking a hit because of your acne, you should most absolutely speak up.”— Sa'iyda Shabazz, scarymommy.com
“we study them in school, the tortured artists. look at all the poets who killed themselves what would their work have been without their depression?”— Ashe Vernon, latenightcornerstore.com
“Suicide is cultural. It fluctuates not only between genders but between nations and eras.”— Matt Haig, gq-magazine.co.uk
“The right [Instagram] algorithm might just be better at making that prediction than a trained physician.”— Rebecca Ruiz, mashable.com
“Students should not be expected to cure the ills of our genuinely troubled classmates, or even our friends, because we first and foremost go to school to learn.”— Isabelle Robinson, nytimes.com
“The implication that Cruz’s mental health issues could have been solved if only he had been loved more by his fellow students is both a gross misunderstanding of how these diseases work and a dangerous suggestion that puts children on the front line.”— Isabelle Robinson, nytimes.com