Elizabeth Wurtzel

That is all I want in life: for this pain to seem purposeful.

Yes. I am mentally ill. I’m not embarrassed about it. And I have written my best work not when flirting with the brink, but when treating my chronic health problem with consistency and care.

Use your health, even to the point of wearing it out. That is what it is for. Spend all you have before you die; do not outlive yourself.

I don’t regret opening up about what I went through [with depression]. Because, it sounds really cliche, but I have had women come up to me and say, ‘It meat so much to me.’

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.

It was against my principles and all, but I was feeling so depressed I didn’t even think. That’s the whole trouble. When you’re feeling very depressed, you can’t even think.

My brain and my heart are really important to me, I don’t know why I wouldn’t seek help to have those things be as healthy as my teeth. I go to the dentist. So why wouldn’t I go to a shrink?

I want to change the stigma of crazy, of mental health – period.

You may feel depressed, but it can’t be so depressing that you can’t move. No, I would say that people create in moments when they are elated about expressing their depression!

When individuals have access to the information about their bodies they can begin to change outcomes.

And every person can benefit from talking to somebody. I’m the most anti-medication person, but some people need medicine, and there was a time where I needed some too.

To be honest, part of me doesn’t want to talk about being sick because I want it to all be behind me, but I know I have to.

I use the world as my therapy – as my therapist.

My advice would be to talk to people about [your anxiety]. Don’t feel alone in it. Treat your body as if you are another person that you need to take care of and heal.

There’s not shame in dealing with these things. There’s no shame in having to fight everyday.

I think it’s important for us to have open conversations about mental health, especially with me being black, because we’ve never had therapists in the black community, we’ve never taken medication. I think it was good that when I had my first complete blackout at age 5, my mom didn’t fully medicate me, because I might not have fully been Ye.