Memoir

Two children’s dresses lying flat, one blue the other white with floral patterns and colourful smocking.

The daughter I never had

I loved my three sons but still yearned for a girl. Why did this fill me with such shame?

by Emma Wilkins

People sitting by a small stream in a wooded area during daytime, with sunlight filtering through bare trees.

Whispers in the wind

How I learned to hear the voice of my ancestors and speak Lenape, a language silenced for generations

Krista Nelson, as told to Dawn Fallik

A dog with a leash standing on a carved wooden bench in front of a field and bare trees under a cloudy sky.

Dog day blues

We were a new stepfamily, and only the puppy was missing. With Elsa, we lobbed a grenade into the mix

by Lily Dunn

Oil painting diptych of a man rowing a boat and a woman in blue with a green background.
LOVE

Two lives drift apart and come together in a love story told one brush stroke at a time

Directed by Ian Bruce

Illustration of a woman floating in space surrounded by large hands and small stars on a dark background.

The psychic who healed me

It was just like her – my bold, dead mother – to show up in my life again. Or was grief playing tricks on me?

by Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein

A man looking through the scope of a rifle in a crowded exhibition with mounted deer heads in the background.

My husband, the gun nut

Three years into a blissful relationship, my partner picked up a hobby that sent me spiralling

by Lindsey Harrington

Black and white close-up photo of a person’s arm showing skin texture and pigment and shadows; protruding ribs are visible behind the arm.

A ghost in limbo

Two decades of anorexia obscured who I was beneath my sickness. Then a stranger saw me

by Miranda Gold

Illustration of two people standing in a forest, at the top of a waterfall, with a dog below; money is washing away down the waterfall into a pond, as well as a car and house pictured in the pond below.

Money

When an investment tanked and buried us in debt, we had to face the truth of how we’d gotten there

by Carol Berkower

A cyclist on a yellow bike passing a closed fast food shop with a yellow and maroon facade and a one-way sign.

A detour home, through Portuguese

Losing my mother tongue was painful and humiliating. Could learning a new language help me heal?

by Frances Nguyen

A person with a backpack hiking through a dense forest towards a rocky riverbank.

In the hole

A metaphor for depression became a catalyst, and I started to reinvent my approach to suffering

by Tasha Eichenseher

A bulldozer and excavator at a quarry with a clear blue sky in the background.

Scarred

The highway I’d helped build stretched before me. For the first time, I saw clearly what we had done

by JShawn Guess

Hands holding freshly picked blackberries, with a background of green leaves and a black and white spotted dress.

Sweetness and light

After years of subsisting on protein bars and iceberg lettuce, berry-picking brought me home to my body

by Jamie Cattanach

Photo of a person carrying a child with blue star shorts on their back, walking on a path lined with green plants.

A sister who wasn’t ours

We were her foster family for two and a half years. We had no claim to her, but she became part of us

by Kelsey Day

Abstract drawing of a face with vibrant colours, featuring red cheeks and a patterned necklace on an orange background.
Psyche Exclusive

Born of memory and mystery – the otherworldly works of a self-taught, unhoused artist

Directed by Tal Amiran

Illustration of person climbing through a window which takes the place of one square in a giant period table, through the window is a city scene.
HOME

Lab at the edge of the world

When my daughter was bullied, I decided to homeschool her. A chain reaction ensued

by Lea Page

Photo of a set of keys on a pavement with yellow and grey paint markings in the background.

How I became a psychoanalyst by losing my keys

What are we really doing when we sit in a room with our patients and exchange some words?

by Jordan Osserman