end the stigma

Music, Mood, Mental Illness

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

Music has always been known to have a visceral impact upon the body and mind. Even beyond it prompting people to dance, its upbeat melodies make folks happy, dulcet tones calm the anxious, and screaming validates the angry. For some reason, and I’ll dive into why I think this is even though I can’t know…

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On gift giving and self sacrifice

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

There is a quality of mine that I adore. It gets me into so much trouble and causes so much suffering, but I can’t lose it. It’s an inextricable element of my identity. I’m the one who cares more. I’m the one who always gives. And that’s quite painful. I was thinking back, the other…

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My future plans

School, Uncategorized
Olivia
A sophomore at NYU, 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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Stigma and Mental Health Awareness Month: A Conversation

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

Mental Health Awareness Month is upon us, and the darling Katie Suss and I thought it would be fruitful to cover a range of topics related to stigma and discussing mental health with peers. There are a few bases that we want to cover, so we’re gonna do this conversation style. Katie and I are…

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6 Books That Will Enhance Your Understanding of Mental Illness

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

By now, if you’re a recurrent visitor, you’ve probably seen the short list of books I keep perched on the front page of this site. If you haven’t, every book there will be on this list, so no need to click out. I thought it might be worthwhile to expand upon it, as well as…

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VIDEO: Mental Illness Assumptions

Videos
Olivia
A sophomore at NYU, 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 made a video with a list of assumptions that people often make about mental illness, and their refutations. Below that is a brief summary of what I said. I hope it’s informative! Mentally ill people are violent.So around 60% of Americans believe that there is a correlation between violence and mental illness. In reality,…

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4 Signs That You Need Psychotherapy

Treatment
Olivia
A sophomore at NYU, 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’m a firm believer that everyone would benefit from seeing a therapist. No matter how rosy our lives may seem, there is always a higher level of self awareness that we can achieve, one that can be derived from an educated outside perspective. That being said, therapy isn’t cheap. So, whether or not to see…

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When Discussing Suicide

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

A girl in my area recently died by suicide, and it’s all over my local news as well as town Facebook pages and friends’ posts. My heart aches as I think about what her family is going through. I’m not going discuss the girl specifically- the local news and my neighborhood is doing plenty of…

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Modern Love: Hospital Goggles

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

Some of you may be familiar with the New York Times weekly column Modern Love. This is inspired by it. There is a phenomenon known in the circles of the severely mentally ill as Hospital Goggles. The term describes the tendency of inhabitants of mental hospitals and treatment centers to romanticize their fellow patients, sometimes doctors. You’ve seen it on Survivor or Big Brother, perhaps; in…

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My relationship goals? Mentally healthy.

Relationships
Olivia
A sophomore at NYU, 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 dated a robust handful of people. Some relationships were ended by me, some weren’t. Some went out with a bang, others simply petered out or ended sweetly. Some were intense and romantic, some abusive, while others were more casual and non-committal. If there’s one thing I have learned since my first “relationship” in seventh…

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