trauma

The Therapeutic Day School and Diversity in Special Education 

Academic Writing
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)

Below is my final project for my upper level philosophy course– The Ethics of Diversity- that was just graded. I replaced the name of my old school in it, quite honestly because my parents told me to. I would have liked to include it. Ah well! Enjoy. _________________________ Olivia Epley Special Topics in Philosophy: The…

Read More

Music, Mood, Mental Illness

Mental Health
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…

Read More

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…

Read More

Dermatillomania (Excoriation) in a Bikini

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)

I have a condition called dermatillomania, an anxiety (and usually OCD) based disorder that is characterized by the inability to stop picking, prodding, scraping one’s own skin. I’ve talked about it before, but here’s a quick recap of it. I’ve gone through periods of my life where hours, meaning 4 or 5, were spent on…

Read More

Memorial Day: Veterans, PTSD and Democratic Candidates

Modern Essays
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)

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,…

Read More

An update on my moral scrupulosity

Relationships, 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)

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…

Read More

Just some trauma poetry

Creativity
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)

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

VIDEO: 3 Days in a Mentally Ill Life

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)

Below is a video I made documenting 3 days in my life. I discuss panic attacks, PTSD, anxiety, dermatillomania, and my eating disorder. If seeing tears is unpalatable to you, steer clear, but otherwise I hope this is informative and offers good insight!

Read More

I’m So OCD: Inflated Sense of Responsibility

OCD
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)

For my whole life, I’ve been the mom friend. Lots of people describe themselves this way. I’ve long been the good influence friend, the alcohol and drug free one who obeyed all traffic signs and only crossed at the crosswalk. It’s said that with every mental disorder, there is a degree of sensibility, and the…

Read More

Subscribe to our mailing list to stay updated!

* indicates required