Month: May 2019

Memorial Day: Veterans, PTSD and Democratic Candidates

News & Media
Olivia
A freshman philosophy major at Temple University, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

It’s Memorial Day! So, the day that the beach weekend is actually named after. Today we celebrate something much more important than a day in the Hamptons. It’s a day to memorialize human casualties of war. I like to celebrate this day separate from my feelings about individual wars or the military as a whole,…

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Selecting language in mental health communities

Uncategorized
Olivia
A freshman philosophy major at Temple University, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

I’ve been in a widely ranged swath of mental health units, wards, houses, groups and communities. They all have their own rules when it comes to what can and cannot be said: literally, what is allowed to be uttered. The folks in these communities go along with the rules most of the time, for there’s…

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A letter to myself, last summer

Uncategorized
Olivia
A freshman philosophy major at Temple University, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

Olivia, I know you’re going through hell right now. I hear it in your voice and I feel your loneliness through the recordings you made of just yourself, talking. Your brain’s on fire, everything hurts. I understand. I have a story for you. Your mother will tell you this in a few months, but I…

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An update on my moral scrupulosity

Relationships, Uncategorized
Olivia
A freshman philosophy major at Temple University, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

I’ve talked about this condition of mine before. An element of my OCD, a powerful one, is entitled obsessive moral scrupulosity, or the obsessive and compulsive need to follow a specific moral code, and often for others to follow it, too. The moral code itself is molded by early childhood influences, and it springs up…

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The crazy ex girlfriend

Relationships
Olivia
A freshman philosophy major at Temple University, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

It’s a common trope among men. “Dude, she was crazy.” “She went psycho.” I know that one of my exes tells his new girlfriend things like that. And I want to unpack it a bit. This is a bit different from a normal article, but I think it’s something that girls in my age group…

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Just some trauma poetry

Illness, Uncategorized
Olivia
A freshman philosophy major at Temple University, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

First of all, I have a massive, worn old journal full of my poetry that is just for me. However, yesterday I came across a little yellow notebook tucked into the back of my closet. It’s not very good, but it’s from a very important period in my life. After I emerged from my abusive…

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On Apologies and Radical Acceptance

Relationships
Olivia
A freshman philosophy major at Temple University, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

One of the most difficult battles of my life has been coming to terms with others’ unwillingness to apologize. I apologize compulsively- I’m sorry frequents my lips as often as my name, if not moreso- and I haven’t been able to imagine why others can’t do it. I was talking with my dear therapist the…

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VIDEO: Applying to College with Mental Illness

School
Olivia
A freshman philosophy major at Temple University, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

I made one of those videos that people make after they get into college. Enjoy! STATS SAT: Wouldn’t you like to know… GPA: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Extracurriculars: Watch to find out

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PTSD vs. Trauma, and How I Sleep

Illness
Olivia
A freshman philosophy major at Temple University, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

Trauma, trauma, trauma. I talk all of the time about it. Why does it seem like all of the trauma happens to me, while (for example) my mother has never developed PTSD, despite both having traumatizing things happen to us? The answer is in what the first psychiatrist who ever treated me, said. He was…

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My future plans

School, Uncategorized
Olivia
A freshman philosophy major at Temple University, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

This break’s been nice. It’s truly exhausting to put things out onto this website, knowing that a handful of people from my old school will likely comment something negative and/or hateful. I have only good things to say today, however! This fall, I’m going to be attending Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. I’m on as…

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