Your stories

School is meant to be one of the best times of your life. Learning who you are, while making friends and happy memories that you’ll look back on fondly when you’re all grown-up. Not so for me. From the day I started primary school to the day I finished my last exam nearly 12 years later, I was bullied; not just verbally but physically, too. I left school nearly eight years ago, but...

She is well educated, has a good job and was well brought up. She's living in a dream flat with her best friend, doing her dream job, with a great circle of friends. You wouldn’t think, then, she would spend two and a half years in and out of a psychiatric hospital. Or survive a suicide attempt. You wouldn’t think that, at 31, she’d have to move back home with her parents and...

My sons and I were born on the autism spectrum. I have Asperger’s syndrome. My eldest son has Asperger’s too, but he also has ADHD (Inattentive type). My youngest son has high functioning autism. These are disabilities which can make life very difficult for us at times. In my case, I'd always felt that I was different, but I didn't learn why until I was in my mid-thirties. My...

Five years ago, at around 8.15pm in February, my eldest daughter, Abi, suddenly complained she felt ill and woozy. Within 45 minutes she had collapsed on our bed with me and her dad with her. Her younger sister and brother were in their bedrooms, listening to us scream, cry and panic as we watched her fade away before our eyes. It was the most terrifying night of our lives. Abi had suffered a...

Depression runs in my family. My Auntie has bipolar, my grandma has it, my great uncle had it and my mother is starting to show symptoms, too. My Dad is beginning to see the doctor for PTSD and my Grandpa also has medication for mental health issues. It's not a surprise then, that I would also be diagnosed. It's not always the case that, just because it runs in your family, it will result in you...

Before her attack, Katie Piper was a regular girl. Now, she’s a household name, an inspiration. Acid attacks are, sadly, still making headlines, ten years after Katie’s own traumatic attack. Things may not be changing for the world, but in Katie’s life, things are certainly changing for the better. In this heart-felt interview with Happiful, Katie opens up about motherhood,...

It was a rainy Monday morning in January. I remember because my husband had gone to work and I was left dealing with the huge pangs of disappointment that the weather was holding us hostage in our own home. But, I wasn't disappointed because we were being deprived of a morning of family fun. Oh no. I was disappointed (actually I was nervous) because kiddo and days spent at home did not mix. I had...

I was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder at just 16 years old. I had been admitted to hospital after a year of depressive and anxious episodes, followed by a hypomanic episode (a lesser episode of mania). People with bipolar have a mood disorder which means our moods can become extreme and oscillate between low and high. After a year of not understanding what was happening, I finally came...

Today I read a book out loud, whilst with my therapist. My therapist is a safe person. A good man. We read the book about touch because I was sexually abused as a child. And as an adult, even though I am a happily married mother of two, touch and sex still confuse me. What is 'safe'? What is 'good'? What is OK and allowed, and for whom? I thought the book would help me. And in a way it...