‘The woman opposite me in this small attic room is observing me. In particular, she is observing me in relation to my neurotype.’

‘The ancestral blood of my matriarchs runs high with sodium.’

‘Intergenerational trauma is, in my experience, often analysed with an automatic alignment of gender: fathers to sons and mothers to daughters.’

‘I’m afraid that either someone in my head or someone in my life will judge me for my expression of need.’

‘Dreams of being chased can sometimes indicate social anxiety, or hint at the fact that there's something you've been avoiding.’

‘I am a mosaic composed of contradictions: I still love the people I will never forgive.’

‘It’s no coincidence that when I accepted the anger I felt about the abuse I faced, I became proactive in my pursuit of being a writer.’

‘The scab of my real self lies under these bandages of poetry, vodka, and sex, and I’m not ready to open it.’

‘This is your chance to work through your blocks and limiting beliefs and superspeed the process of implementing empowering mantras and new, healthy routines.’

‘How when you were eleven you would hide at the bottom of the linen closet in the guest bathroom that no one ever used.’

‘Many people in my life see me as a bubbly, chill girl, a competent human being. It is an image I have carefully crafted over the years, and it takes a lot of energy to uphold.’

‘What do you say to a child who is convinced there is nothing to look forward to in this life?’

‘I marveled at their defiance while simultaneously fearing for their ultimate demise.’

‘There was no anger, denial or numbing now, just the gentle thud of different trails of thoughts falling into place.’

‘What matters more to me now is believing the anger is not mine.’

‘The emotions seem unspeakable; to air them unthinkable.’

‘Into the vacuum, or the morass, have swept the therapists, a whole procession of them.’

‘I do not know what to blame sometimes: my ADHD brain, or my medicated brain. I still do not know what to treasure the most.’

‘I want you to join me. I want you to feel your anger, turn it into rage, hold him to account within yourself for what he has done, find your strength, and feel the euphoria that I felt when I found mine.’

‘I am now the site of a scientific experiment. Wires are connected to the cannula in the back of my hand and another at the crook of an elbow. Unnamed liquids flow in.’