Reciprocated Friendships
Recently, I have been feeling down because I felt as though the people in my life did not care about me. No one ever checks up on me, and I was always the one...
SOVA Blog
Curling Up With a Good Book
There are so many ways to get comfortable with a book and get lost in the words and stories that it contains. You can read in the car during a long journey, in between...
Tackling Stigma
The topic about how stigma affects how we view mental illness is not new. The way that people talk about mental illness can not only impact how we view those with mental illness, but how...
Current Habits in Social Media
Yesterday, the Pew Research Center published a new report about teenagers and how they use social media. It can feel like these sorts of reports and the stories that follow can occur way too...
Concealing my Depression
I first encountered depression symptoms when I was 11. As a kid who was bullied, coming from a broken home with emotionally unavailable parents, these feelings were almost inevitable. We never talked about our feelings in...
Can Schools Influence Stigma?
Our environments can have a powerful impact on how we view things, especially in how we view the things about ourselves. Because adolescents spent a lot of time in school, their teachers, their classmates,...
How Animals Improve Mental Health
Since I was spending Thanksgiving break at home with my family, I got to spend some quality time with my family’s dog. I have really enjoyed having her around and have felt my mood lifted....
Giving Back
There are going to be a lot of chances to reflect and give back now that the holiday season is in full swing. This doesn’t only include Thanksgiving during November, but other holidays such...
There’s No Shame in Taking Antidepressants
I was about four years into my battle with depression when I began taking Lexapro. I had been in and out of therapy in the preceding years, and each therapist I visited asked if...
A Minority in Mental Health: Asian Americans
The “model minority stereotype” of Asian Americans perceives them to be hardworking, and academically, economically, and socially successful when compared to all other racial minority groups. Because of this, Asian Americans are assumed to...
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