Understanding yourself

What is said, and what is underneath.

Studies of the sentences people offer long before they can name what is happening. Starting points for reading, never a diagnosis.

127 studies · Page 1 of 6

Conceptual paper artwork: Rain-softened pitch deck buckling inward around a dry blank centre.

N° 01

Depression

“I’m just tired.”

Rest has stopped restoring you. Depression does not always look like sadness.

Conceptual paper artwork: Unlabelled export-route map whose fine line loops back across itself.

N° 02

Generalised anxiety

“I’ve always been a worrier.”

The working day ends. The thinking does not.

Conceptual paper artwork: Contract stack under desk lamp; pool of light narrows to one square.

N° 03

Burnout

“It’s a busy season at work.”

The season has lasted two years. When achievement leaves no room to recover.

Conceptual paper artwork: Three blank invitation cards set apart like islands; one muted saffron edge.

N° 04

Social anxiety

“I’m not much of a people person.”

Invitations declined in advance. What if being yourself felt easier?

Conceptual paper artwork: Two cut-paper house plans meet at a misaligned seam, a narrow shadow between.

N° 05

Relationship difficulties

“We always have the same argument.”

Different people, different years, and somehow the same place again.

Conceptual paper artwork: Folded manuscript opens into a quiet window-shaped space.

N° 06

Psychotherapy

“I don’t know what’s wrong, exactly.”

You do not need to know yet. Making sense of it is part of the work.

Conceptual paper artwork: Dinner plate, cricket ball beyond its rim, exam papers spaced at a distance.

N° 07

Adolescent mental health

“They barely talk to us any more.”

Some distance is part of growing up. Sometimes it is a young person carrying something alone.

Conceptual paper artwork: Red-carpet strip folded into a tight accordion beneath an unmarked plinth.

N° 08

Panic attacks

“I thought I was having a heart attack.”

The emergency doctor said the heart was fine. The fear was real, and it has a name.

Conceptual paper artwork: House key centred within precisely nested blank paper frames.

N° 09

Obsessive compulsive disorder

“I know it is locked. I check it anyway.”

The thought arrives uninvited and will not leave until the ritual is done. Then it comes back.

Conceptual paper artwork: Paper window grid with one warm amber square slightly apart.

N° 11

Acute stress reaction

“Since that night, I can’t seem to land.”

Shock in the days after something terrible is a normal human response. Help in those days still matters.

Conceptual paper artwork: Open travel trunk between cool rain-marked paper and warm tiled floor.

N° 12

Adjustment disorder

“Everyone says I should be used to it by now.”

A move, a loss of work, a diagnosis. Sometimes the change is over and the struggle is not.

Conceptual paper artwork: Blank boarding pass under a glass aircraft window; route line stops short.

N° 13

Specific phobia

“I’ll drive to Chattogram. I always do.”

A fear far bigger than the danger, and a life arranged around it. Phobias respond well to treatment, sometimes in a single long session.

Conceptual paper artwork: Ghungroo beside a rehearsal-floor grid fading before the stairs.

N° 14

Functional neurological disorder

“The tests are normal, but my legs won’t hold me.”

Real symptoms, a healthy scan, and a nervous system working the wrong way. This is not imagined, and it is treatable.

Conceptual paper artwork: Thick blank report folder in quiet arcs around a lake-blue opening.

N° 15

Somatic symptoms

“I’ve seen six doctors this year.”

Pain that tests cannot explain, worry that tests cannot settle. Care that treats the whole person can help.

Conceptual paper artwork: Investor-card skyline above a long stretch of unmarked calendar leaves.

N° 16

Bipolar disorder

“Last month I couldn’t stop. Now I can’t start.”

Weeks of sleepless energy, then weeks of darkness. Bipolar disorder is a medical condition with good treatment.

Conceptual paper artwork: Charcoal studio drawing under tracing paper; lifted corner admits a plane of light.

N° 17

Schizophrenia and psychosis

“He says the neighbours are listening.”

For families, the first signs are frightening and confusing. Earlier treatment is linked to better outcomes.

Conceptual paper artwork: Half-started storyboard cards orbit one clear, unfinished editing timeline.

N° 18

ADHD

“I’ve got forty tabs open. In my head too.”

Not laziness, not bad parenting. A difference in how the brain manages attention, in children and in adults.

Conceptual paper artwork: Teleprompter glass with fine concentric print ripples and one clear opening.

N° 19

Headache and migraine

“It’s just a headache. Most days.”

Four in ten people live with a headache disorder. When it is daily, there is usually more to understand.

Conceptual paper artwork: Runway-length strip of folded fabric passes behind a closed backstage curtain.

N° 20

Epilepsy

“We kept it quiet. People talk.”

Epilepsy is a brain condition, not a curse or a spirit. Up to 70% of people with epilepsy could live free of seizures with the right treatment.

Conceptual paper artwork: Squared court-file stack; one translucent page offsets beneath a hospital-window shadow.

N° 21

Delirium

“Abba didn’t know us in the hospital.”

Sudden confusion in an older person is a medical emergency, often caused by infection or medicines, and often reversible.

Conceptual paper artwork: Open poetry book held by winter sun, blank pages lifting at the edges.

N° 22

Dementia

“Ammu asks the same question every hour.”

Dementia is not a normal part of ageing. Diagnosis helps the person and the family plan, cope and care.

Conceptual paper artwork: Numeral-free clock face fixed at 3:07, long shadow crosses deep navy paper.

N° 23

Insomnia

“I’m awake at three, every night.”

Sleeping pills are not the first treatment for insomnia. A talking therapy is.

Conceptual paper artwork: Small folded baby blanket in warm light; distant camera-flash rectangles fade into ivory.

N° 24

Postpartum depression

“Everyone says I should be happy.”

Depression after childbirth is common in Bangladesh and treatable. It is not a failure of love.