I suffered my first panic attack at age 13 in my bedroom before going to sleep one night. My parents didn’t know what to do to calm me down and I had absolutely no idea what I was stressing over. There wasn’t some big life change coming about or anything stressful happening in my life at this point. These feelings came out of nowhere and I felt trapped. I was scared to talk to people about that night because anytime I voiced my feelings of sadness or fear, I was told that I was exaggerating or making a big deal out of nothing.
Read MoreBirthday milestones have always been a significant marker of how I both experienced and remember my illness. On my sixteenth birthday, I was removed from high school and locked in a mental health unit where I was forcibly held for many months.
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