I Faked Happiness Every Day. Then a Drug Addiction Story Saved Me.
April 17th, 2015
by Allyson McAndrews, M.Ed.
Published in The Mighty
From the viewpoint of anyone else on this planet, I had the world. I was a Villanova cheerleader, had a graduate degree, countless friends and family, vacation home on the Vineyard, Kappa Kappa Gamma… the list goes on. While it may seem to many people that the most difficult question I would face every day would be what I was going to wear, for me the real question was, How in the world am I going to get out of bed today and pretend to be happy?
My mother is a nurse practitioner and my father was a district attorney for 17 years and currently owns his own law firm that specializes in advocating for children with disabilities and mental illness and their families. Unlike many, I have parents who have a real grasp and understanding for mental illness. They’ve seen it all. Without this, I have no idea where or what I’d be doing today. They accepted the fact with open arms that I needed help and got me into therapy with one of the most remarkable therapists in the world (and the one I still see over 15 years later).
Click here for the full article.
