The hardest part of today was getting in the elevator. ECT is administered in the same building where I was hospitalized during my first manic episode. As I pressed the down button, I could faintly see a group gathering in the cafeteria down the hall, getting ready to eat their breakfast. I remembered the first…
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Easy as ECT
After a long absence from this blog, I came back to keep a record of the next chapter of my story: I’m starting ECT tomorrow. ECT, which stands for electroconvulsive therapy, is the new branding of shock therapy. It is, however, much more targeted than the old days (as my doctor said, it’s now more…
Read MoreBack to the Beginning
It was two years ago today that we officially labeled what was happening to me as a problem. It was two years ago today that my mother FaceTimed me when I had just woken up from a nap. “How are you doing?” she asked, and I launched into a sermon. “We’re doing great!” I shouted,…
Read MoreDon’t Miss the Flowers for the Freeze
It’s perhaps fitting that I last posted for New Year’s, and that I’m finally posting again just after Nowruz– the Persian New Year. I always felt that it was more natural to celebrate the new year with the arrival of spring. Spring is such a time for hope- new growth, new warmth, new babies. But…
Read MoreA New Year’s Resoulution
Few years in my life have felt as long as this one. Last year, on New Year’s, I declared that I’d had the hardest year of my life, and therefore I was the strongest I’d ever been. In the end, this proved to be true. Although I faced many familiar battles this year, I fought…
Read MoreTake Some Self-Ease
On my last solo walk of this challenge, I thought a lot about solitude. I was never a fan of it in my younger years. In fact, I was so unaccustomed to being alone that I once asked Matt, before we were dating, whether he would bring a chair into the communal bathroom in our…
Read MoreFree Dogs, Free Therapy
During today’s first walk, I spent time talking with an old friend from high school. We talked about many things, but one thing we touched upon that got me thinking was the amount of stigma associated with seeking out help for mental illness. This strikes me as so odd given the prevalence of mental illness.…
Read MorePsycho-ho-ho-sis
In my last post, I mentioned how challenging it is to be cooped up in the house with Bailey so often. But on my latest solo walk on the day after Christmas, I got to think a lot about all of the lovely ways in which being cooped up in the house for Bailey’s first…
Read MoreQuarantired
Matt and I both took the day before Christmas Eve off, to prepare for the arrival of his mom and her husband. Bailey still had daycare, so we had the luxury of being able to clean outside the confines of naptime and without a small, very well-meaning helper getting in the way. We were in…
Read MoreThe Santa Closet
A few days ago I walked with Nora- my oldest friend. We met in preschool, and pretty quickly became inseparable. One of the traits that united us was that we were wise beyond our years, as our teachers liked to remind us in each grade level we traveled through. As the holidays approach, I’m reminded…
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Postpartum Psychosisterhood 