panic attacks
Sudden periods of intense fear. But remember, you're not alone.
The Best Friend of My Dreams Who Got Away
I met Nicole, the most treasured friend I have ever had in my life, at the Ronald McDonald House in Rochester, Minnesota while Nicole and I were admitted at the Mayo Clinic during the cold winter of February 2013. During those cold days she warmed my heart instantly when she approached me after our dinner had finished at the Ronald McDonald House. She broke the ice by saying “Hey, you just seem very nice and normal compared to a few here, and I’d like to get to know you.” I got that feeling you get when you feel like you’ve known that person forever instantaneously. Nicole asked me, “Do you know what POTS is?” which was her diagnosis, and for some reason, my mind went to pots and pans. Later that night when we went to our respective rooms with our parents and family, we continued to chat over text about our chronic health problems and how we dealt with them. I turned 18 during the 2 weeks our times overlapped at the Mayo Clinic; so, we were just 17 to 18-year-old teenagers who immediately had a crush on each other. We formed such a strong bond as best friends throughout our experience at Mayo’s that carried over into a complicated but beautiful friendship. Throughout the years, we did keep in touch and converse about our health battles and how we dreamed to overcome them.
By Eamon Janfadaa day ago in Psyche
Homework Assignment - Right, Wrong, or Grey-zone?
So my autism therapist gave me some homework for a new form (to me at least) of therapy. It is an Internal Family Systems parts mapping exercise and I have no idea if I am doing it correctly or not, but I just wanted to write about my experience... *smile*
By The Schizophrenic Mom3 days ago in Psyche
The Call You Don’t Remember Making. AI-Generated.
The phone rang at 3:11 a.m. Not a notification. Not an alarm. A real call. Omar stared at the screen through half-closed eyes. Unknown Number. He almost ignored it—almost—but something about the timing felt deliberate, like the call had waited for him to wake up before ringing.
By shakir hamid5 days ago in Psyche
I Saved My Family from a House Fire
It was late September, and I had moved up to senior school. I was only just eleven and wouldn’t be twelve until the far end of June. I had spent the summer holidays carefree, happy, and getting prepared for my new ‘big’ school, and my twin and I were both ecstatic to leave junior school far behind us.
By Chantal Christie Weiss7 days ago in Psyche
Essence, Embodiment, and Relational Reality
The Failure of Reduction and the Need for Synthesis There is a persistent failure in many modern attempts to explain what a human being is. Some frameworks reduce the person entirely to matter, insisting that identity, consciousness, morality, and meaning are nothing more than emergent properties of physical processes. Other frameworks move in the opposite direction, detaching spirit from reason and grounding belief in intuition alone, often at the cost of coherence or accountability. Both approaches fail because both misunderstand essence. One denies that essence exists at all. The other treats it as something vague and undefinable.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast11 days ago in Psyche
The House That Waited. AI-Generated.
The house appeared on the road one evening without warning. Kareem was certain of it because he drove that road every day. Same turns. Same cracked asphalt. Same dead tree leaning toward the street like it was tired of standing. There had never been a house there before.
By shakir hamid11 days ago in Psyche
Resistance Is Not the Enemy
Iron sharpens iron. Brakes save lives. Friction preserves form. Modern culture treats resistance as failure. Anything that slows momentum is framed as obstruction, anything that introduces friction is assumed to be opposition, and anything that interrupts progress is labeled a setback. But this instinct misunderstands how both physical systems and human growth actually work. Resistance is not inherently hostile. In many cases, it is the only thing preventing collapse.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast12 days ago in Psyche
The Refiner’s Fire Is Not the Whetstone
There is a difference between being sharpened and being transformed, and confusing the two leads to frustration when growth does not feel productive. Sharpening implies refinement of existing form. Fire implies change in composition. Both processes are uncomfortable, but they operate on different levels and for different purposes. When people expect sharpening and receive fire instead, they often assume something has gone wrong, when in reality something deeper is taking place.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast12 days ago in Psyche
You See From Where You Stand
"The room remains full whether you can see it or not." One of the most persistent misunderstandings about perception is the assumption that seeing is the same as knowing. People often believe that if something feels clear, it must be complete, and if something feels obscure, it must be absent. But awareness does not work that way. What you perceive at any moment is not a measure of what exists. It is a measure of what your current position allows to pass through.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast12 days ago in Psyche
