Amanda Knapp
PsychCentral
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Past articles by Amanda:
Fear of Success
I have never been one to fear success. I love success. It’s fun. It feels good. It leads to praise and rewards. In fact, one of the major motivating factors in my life has been a fear of failure. I never want to disappoint people. ... → Read More
The Shame We Feel
I've realized lately that the bikini holds a special place in our society. It's not just a bathing suit. It's a trophy we bestow upon some, and a treasure we withhold from others. I started thinking about this when I saw a picture of a large woman online in a bikini. The comments were varied, but there were quite a few → Read More
It’s a Control Thing
I remember being in high school and having the health teachers and psychology teachers and gym teachers (and seemingly every other teacher) lecturing us about eating disorders. They would discuss the different types, and then they would always be sure to say how it wasn't about food or weight. It was about control. → Read More
Why I Am not on a Diet
I had a school physical the summer before I started eighth grade. I stepped on a scale. I was on the lower range of normal, but I had hit a new number. A new milestone. And I didn't like it. That was the beginning of my journey towards wanting to change my body. Up until and even including that moment, I was still very → Read More
Our Bodies Are Not a Source of Shame
I've tried a lot of things to lose weight over the years. Some of them were healthy. (Eat only organic.) Some of them were not healthy. (Purge whatever → Read More
Share Your Story
I remember the day I was first diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. It was my first year of graduate school, and I saw a counselor at the university I was at. → Read More
What We Do with Our Pain
I’ve been thinking a lot about brokenness lately. About the ways in which we all are broken, both big and small. And to be honest, it’s scary. Terrifying actually. // The way I see it, we are all walking around with wounds. If we are... → Read More
Asking for Help is Hard
I used to teach college English before Magoo was born. Once she was born, I went to teaching one or two night classes for a couple of semesters before it got → Read More
Admitting Defeat
At times, things seem so complicated. So many plans and responsibilities. So many reveries and dreams and memories. So much behind and so much ahead. Sometimes it gets to be too much for me. My brain reaches capacity and it sort of shuts off. That’s... → Read More
In Search of Gentleness
I look outside onto the ice covered streets. I can almost feel the harsh air brushing my cheeks. I feel my feet slip in the snow, and I seek out gentleness. I turn on the news and I see hatred and violence. I hear all the yelling and pick up on... → Read More
It’s Those Brave Enough to Be Vulnerable Who Are the Most Strong
I've had people tell me that I am brave before. The theory is that because I take my pain and write about it and send it out into the world in the hopes that → Read More
Our Scars Don’t Define Us
I have a scar on my chin. When I was very small, I was jumping on the living couch, and I fell into our wooden coffee table. My top teeth went through my bottom lip the wrong way, and the scar I have is the reminder of the stitches that patched me... → Read More
Surviving Broken Relationships Over the Holidays
I don't have a whole lot of failed relationships in my life. For the most part, I still keep in contact with friends I haven't even seen in many years. I like → Read More
Steps I Take to Keep Anxiety/Depression in Remission
My emotions have been better this year. Much, much better. This year was what I silently dreamed of during all those dark years when I thought of peace. The → Read More
Finding Peace in the Midst of Anxiety
The year was probably 2005. I had about an hour to commute to my job, and the Christmas season was upon us. I flipped to one of my favorite radio stations to realize that they were playing holiday music throughout the whole month. I loved holiday... → Read More
The Battles in our Minds
Sometimes my head feels like a very small place to reside. I'll find myself trapped inside this space where thoughts spin faster than I can organize them. → Read More
Do You Use Facebook to Bring Peace or Anger Into the World?
I used to constantly post about politics on Facebook. Any time I saw our leaders in DC doing something that I felt was immoral or selfish or against the best interests of our most vulnerable, I would immediately take to Facebook to air my grievances.... → Read More
Anxiety and the Terror Around Us
Decades of anxiety can teach you a few things about life. It can help you see fear in a different light. For the majority of my life, I remember responding to almost everything out of fear. My life was a microcosm of what ifs and if thens. It was... → Read More
What About Hope?
For me, the opposite of depression is hope. Depression, for me, is a miles deep crater that I believe I will never crawl out of. It’s disillusionment born of an unfulfilled longing for peace. It’s fear that hope will raise me up just... → Read More
I Will Not Be Hardened
Hi friends, I’ve written about this before, and perhaps I’ll write about it again after tonight, but in the meantime, I would just like to say that I will not be hardened or toughened up or made to be less sensitive. // I’ve had... → Read More