The Mental Health collection

Drawing by Colette Walsh accompanying story by Sevana Ohandjanian.

…Grabbing my phone from its position atop the toilet roll dispenser, I find the song. The only song that can turn the shaky breaths smooth, that sucks the trembling out of my fingertips… Sevana Ohandjanian

…I am free to find new horizons and make them mine. I am more than my bullies ever imagined and becoming more with each passing day. I refuse to let the past define me… Linda M Crate

It is a source of quiet pride – and privilege – that nearly a dozen contributors to Stereo Stories have entrusted their accounts of mental health with us.

This has been the case since the very early days of the website when Phil Dimitriadis wrote about his alcoholism, Stephen Andrew about his depression, and Rijn Collins about her agoraphobia.

In the past 18 months Sophia Irvine, Samantha Lee Curran and Martina Medica have also told their brave stories.

And the songs that have salved? Tunes by Mayday Parade, The Clash, The Horrors, Savage Garden, Neil Young, Babes In Toyland, Wilco, Notis Sfakianakis and more.

…The potency of the video clip scared me into sobriety when I’d just turned 27. I was in Greece for a holiday in 1996 trying to overcome my demons, when I first heard and saw the clip after a night of Heineken havoc with some locals in Patras... Phil Dimitriadis

…My “heightened and extreme anxiety” according to my psychiatrist has taken hold of me for the past two days. Today is my third and my body has given up on trying to fight it. My father sits at the other end of the couch. No one says anything. This ain’t our first rodeo and there is nothing left to be said… Sophia Irvine

The Stereo Stories Mental Health collection