Friends & Family

by Samantha Thornton

March 25, 2017 – 6 weeks later

by Abigail Hills

ADAA2_0.jpgMy name is Abigail Hills and I am an illustration major at Grand Valley State University in Michigan.  I was in a car accident, a few years ago, and suffered a hit to the head.  Since then I have been dealing with varying degrees of anxiety and depression.  At first I didn’t understand what was going on.  All I knew was that I was constantly worrying about things that had never bothered me before, and sometimes I did not want to be around people, or d

by Eileen O’Meara
I’d be stuck in traffic, and these irritating voices would take my brain hostage “Did you leave the coffee on? The house will catch on fire, the neighbors will burn!”
by Zac Hersh

ZachJourney_0.pngMy name is Zac Hersh, but I go by “Z.” I am a 23-year-old recent college graduate, certified personal trainer, yoga instructor, mindfulness and meditation coach, and an accomplished distance runner, and triathlete. I am also the co-creator of the Mood mobile app.

by China McCarney

ChinaMcCarney.jpgI have lived with anxiety since 2009. I was 22 years old. My first panic attack occurred that year. About 45 minutes into a car drive I felt as if I was going to die. I could not breathe and had to pull the car off the road and walk for hours to try and catch my breath. That was my introduction to anxiety and I had no idea that I was about to embark on a back and forth journey for years to come.

by Jenni Schaefer

JenniSchaeferPTSD is an invisible monster. It disguises reality. When I was sucked into what I learned to call the trauma vortex, I often couldn’t distinguish between what was real and what wasn’t. I thought I was going crazy.

OCD Facts

Dr. Elspeth Bell, a licensed psychologist at the Behavior Therapy Center of Greater Washington, speaks on behalf of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. She describes the mental illness OCD, which stands for obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD is a serious and often debilitating chronic anxiety disorder that causes people to have unwanted and intrusive thoughts, or obsessions. To try to ease their anxiety or distress, people with OCD often repeatedly perform ritualistic behaviors and routines, called compulsions.