My name is ‘William.’ My son is in his late 20’s and has been struggling with mental health issues for the last few years, I’ve been depressed to varying degrees for the past decade and a half.

I won’t really punch you. I just wanted to get your attention.

There is a saying: ‘It was the worst!’ Or at least there was a couple of years ago. The hipsters these days (or some of them) used it from time to time. “I had to wait in line at Starbucks for ten minutes — it was the worst!” “On the way to work, it was raining, and I couldn’t get a seat on the bus — it was the worst!”

I respectfully submit that most people who say that have no idea at all what they are talking about. (Sorry about the phrasing, I’m watching a courtroom drama on the TV while I write this.)Continue Reading

I suffer from auditory hallucinations, so, hearing voices and sounds that aren’t really there, since my teenage years. Although I’ve lived with them for many years, (I’m now thirty two), it’s only been in the past of couple of years that I’ve truly accepted I have psychosis. I lived in denial. Not understanding the true nature of what I was hearing, and later not wanting to believe the truth, I hid away from the glaringly obvious.

Everyone has conversations with themselves, right? Well, yes they do. We’ve all talked to ourselves whilst searching for our keys in the morning, or rehearsed what we’re going to say on a first date or at an interview. But have you ever had a voice talk to you, out of nowhere, loudly and clearly? A voice that is distinct from your own internal monologue, a voice that is unpredictable and spontaneous? I have, and so have many living with psychosis.Continue Reading