BY ASHLEY GREY Dear Readers, I have been showing you the most painful parts of my life for many months throughout the last two years. I suffer from schizophrenia, major depression, anxiety and PTSD. I also have dissociative episodes. At my worst I was bedridden. You guys, something has changed.…
BY ASHLEY FRAY I have a chronic mental illness. Schizo-affective disorder. Schizophrenia plus major depression. I am afraid. I am returning to a five-day-a-week work life. There is a problem that worries me. When I am alone, the voices in my head and I have conversations. For me it is…
BY ASHLEY UNDERCOVER I am writing this column at 10 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 17, 2018. I have a rather disturbing report. Unbeknownst to me, the spirit guide sent me into a mental health unit for senior citizens at a local MN hospital. To protect everyone’s identity, even the guilty,…
BY ASHLEY FRAY Weight Gain: One of the worst parts of major depression is the sedentary isolation. The anti-psychotic medications also cause an unending appetite. I have been yo-yo dieting for eight years. Right now, my goal weight is nowhere in sight. The weight increases lethargy. Not only am I…
BY ASHLEY GRAY Thoughts on the ring of power by a schizophrenic mind. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is in many ways my life. I am Smeagol before I came down with symptoms of schizophrenia. Smeagol was human. Fully human. Smeagol came upon the Master Ring of power. The…
BY ASHLEY FRAYED Today I went to experience the Science Museum of Minnesota’s “Mental Health: Mind Matters.” For me as a person surviving mental illness, I was positive about the whole thing. As I walked in I was struck by the décor. Everything is colored in shrill black and white.…
BY ASHLEY THE GREY As a former attorney, I have walked in powerful shoes. Gained respect by the mere title “Attorney at Law.” People wanted to know me. I was asked to sit on boards for nonprofits and odd museums. I had been taught that being a lawyer was the…
