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Articles by Bassey Ikpi
Rediscovering Myself: The Continuing Journey of EMDR Therapy
Three months after my intensive EMDR session, the transformative effects continue to unfold. In my previous article, I shared the profound shifts I experienced during and immediately after the session. Since then, each week has brought new realizations, reframing my understanding of myself and my mental health. I feel as if I am undergoing a deep transformation, reshaping my identity from a more authentic place. It's like rediscovering the person I was meant to be before trauma altered my path.
Unlocking Healing: My Intensive Journey with EMDR Therapy
After years of struggling with anxiety and the lingering effects of past trauma, I found myself constantly searching for a way to break free from the grip of my own mind. Traditional talk therapy helped to some extent, but I often felt like I was intellectualizing my emotions rather than truly processing them. One day, my therapist mentioned a different approach called EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, which was developed in the late 1980s to treat PTSD.
Spirited
A Modern Guide to Ancient Spiritual Wellness & Wisdom Narrated by: Candice Kumai Length: 5 hrs and 25 mins 4.8 out of 5 stars 4.8 (18 ratings) Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts. You will get an email reminder before your trial ends. Your Plus plan is $7.95 a month after 30 day trial. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
The Magic of Good, Vulnerable Writing ✨
Hi Bleeders, Bassey Ikpi grew up thinking authors were magicians, and it turns out she knows how to cast the spell too! Her memoir I’m Telling the Truth, but I’m Lying is one of my all-time favorite books for its unflinching honesty and fully dimensional articulation of living with mental illness. Bassey takes readers along with her so viscerally as she solves the mystery of what plagues her.
10 Mental Health Memoirs From Writers Who Have Been There
Get inside someone else's head. By Rachel Kramer Bussel | Published Apr 16, 2021 First, We Make the Beast Beautiful By Sarah Wilson I'm Telling the Truth But I'm Lying By Bassey Ikpi Want more great books? Sign up for the Early Bird Books newsletter and get the best daily ebook deals delivered straight to your inbox.
A Short List of Books I haven’t Finished this Year
A personal shaming and recommendations based on books I’ve only half-read. When the pandemic kicked into high gear and we were all nestled scarily in our homes I, like many of us, resolved to take the time to do some self-improvement. Workout more (or at all), take up a hobby (photography was the ultimate winner), write more (ta-daaa!), and read. That last one… Reading has often been a difficult thing for me to do. Physically I have been battling with eyesight issues for years.
On Loneliness at 3 A.M. in Lagos
Photo: Shutterstock (Shutterstock) It was 3 a.m. in Onikan, a suburb of Lagos. The street below her window was uncharacteristically quiet. In the distance, she could hear the faint thump of a bass-line and the strained, faint chorus of afrobeat. She listened for the shrieks of laughter and enjoyment coming from the building down the road.
Tin House Summer Workshop Reads 2020 Playlist on Libro.fm
I'm Telling the Truth, but I'm Lying Essays By Bassey Ikpi Narrated by Bassey Ikpi / 7 hours 11 minutes 2020 Audie Finalist – Short Stories/Collections In I’m Telling the Truth, but I’m Lying Bassey Ikpi explores her life—as a Nigerian-American immigrant, a black woman, a slam poet, a mother, a daughter, an artist—through the lens of her mental health and diagnosis of bipolar II and anxiety. Her remarkable memoir in essays implodes our...
6 of the Best Audiobooks for Mental Health Awareness Month
May is Mental Health Awareness Month! Mental illnesses look differently for each person who experiences them, and authors from many different walks of life have put their stories into words, giving listeners a chance to see themselves or to better understand the experiences of others. Here are six books by women that explore ideas and themes around mental illness.
How to Cure Childhood Anxiety, One Sam Cooke Album at a Time
Photo: John Fedele/Getty Images My early memories of life, growing up in Stillwater, Oklahoma, are fraught. We were immigrants and my parents were full-time students working multiple jobs while trying their best to parent a child they could barely understand, in a country that refused to understand them. To say it was difficult is to understate the struggle, but thanks to my daddy, Sam Cooke was part of the soundtrack.
6-Month Essay Collection Mentorship Program — Writing Workshops Dallas
We are very excited to offer a limited enrollment 6-Month Online Essay Collection Mentorship Program with award-winning memoirist/essayist Kendra Allen, author of the collection When You Learn The Alphabet (University of Iowa Press) and winner of the 2018 Iowa Prize for Literary Nonfiction. This is an immersive course designed to shepherd hardworking writers to THE END of their manuscript and identify next steps for the project (revision, querying agents, publication, etc.).
@ReadingWhileBLK sits down with David Johns from the National Black Justice Coalition by Reading While Black Podcast • A podcast on Anchor
Back in late July of this year, I had the opportunity to sit down with David Johns from the National Black Justice Coalition, a civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer and same gender loving (LGBTQ/SGL) people, including people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). NBJC’s mission is to end racism, homophobia, and LGBTQ/SGL bias and stigma.
Reading While Black sits down with David Johns from the National Black Justice Coalition by Reading While Black Podcast • A podcast on Anchor
Back in late July of this year, I had the opportunity to sit down with David Johns from the National Black Justice Coalition, a civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer and same gender loving (LGBTQ/SGL) people, including people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). NBJC’s mission is to end racism, homophobia, and LGBTQ/SGL bias and stigma.
Reading While Black Podcast • A podcast on Anchor
Cognac & Celexa (Reading While Black Discusses I Don't Want To Die Poor with author Michael Arceneaux) Welcome back readers, I'm back with another episode of Reading While Black Podcast and today we have Michael Arceneaux here to discuss his second book, I Don't Want To Die Poor. This is not just a perfect book for right now at this moment as student loan debt is a national conversation during the 2020 Presidential Race but it was a perfect book 10 years ago.
5 Things I've Learned From Living With Bipolar II Disorder
Wundervisuals (Klöpper & Eisenschmidt GbR)Getty Images Mental health is talked about so little in Black, African and immigrant communities. When I was diagnosed with Bipolar II, I had never heard of it. I’d never heard of any Black people with it so, unless I was the first, there had to be some mistake. The first thing I did when I got home was Google the condition. Bipolar exists on a spectrum.
Women's Review of Books Volume 36, Issue 5
September / October 2019 p. 2 Black Lives Mother Breathe: A Letter to My Sons By Imani Perry Reviewed by Bridgett M. Davis p. 4 Attention Whore The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls By Mona Eltahawy Reviewed by Rachel DeWoskin p. 6 A Bird In The Hand Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me By Adrienne Brodeur Reviewed by Cathi Hanauer p. 8 Dreams On The Rise The Promise By Silvina Ocampo; Forgotten Journey By Silvina Ocampo Reviewed by Ana Castillo p.
Cognac & Celexa (Reading While Black Discusses I Don't Want To Die Poor with author Michael Arceneaux) by Reading While Black Podcast • A podcast on Anchor
Cognac & Celexa (Reading While Black Discusses I Don't Want To Die Poor with author Michael Arceneaux) Welcome back readers, I'm back with another episode of Reading While Black Podcast and today we have Michael Arceneaux here to discuss his second book, I Don't Want To Die Poor. This is not just a perfect book for right now at this moment as student loan debt is a national conversation during the 2020 Presidential Race but it was a perfect book 10 years ago.
RWB Sits With Maya Rupert, Campaign Manager for Julián Castro’s (D) 2020 Presidential Campaign by Reading While Black Podcast • A podcast on Anchor
Back in late July of this year, I had the opportunity to sit down with David Johns from the National Black Justice Coalition, a civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer and same gender loving (LGBTQ/SGL) people, including people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). NBJC’s mission is to end racism, homophobia, and LGBTQ/SGL bias and stigma.
I’m Telling The Truth But I’m Lying By Bassey Ikpi by Reading While Black Podcast • A podcast on Anchor
#CollegeWhileBlack is a sub series that gives a voice to Black college students at Historically Black College & Universities during the Trump administration. This series gives these students a platform where they can discuss topics not only dealing with issues on their campus but issues across the country. October 8th, Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough invited American conservative commentator Candace Owens to Dillard University for their annual Brainfood discussion.
Bassey Ikpi on Living With Bipolar II Disorder
In her debut memoir, "I'm Telling the Truth, But I'm Lying," writer and mental health advocate Bassey Ikpi takes readers into her mind as a Nigerian American woman living with bipolar II disorder and anxiety. Ikpi describes in visceral, poetic language her journey to a diagnosis and the impact her mental illness had on her relationships. Ikpi is also the founder of The Siwe Project, an organization that promotes mental health awareness among people of African descent.
Three Lives: True Tales of Remarkable Women
Growing up in a secret missile-making compound. Finding healing from loss through the natural world. Finding identity and home in a fractured family. Three bestselling authors share their beautifully rendered stories. Location: 510 N. Euclid Date: September 21, 2019 Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm Karen Piper Bassey Ikpi Margaret Renkl Sign up for BookFest St. Louis updates UP ‹ › ×
Former slam poet who wrote bestselling book about her mental illness will visit Lancaster
The book Bassey Ikpi first set out to write was far different from the one she eventually published. Ikpi, a Nigerian-American who made her name as a slam poet who was a mainstay of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, says the original intent was to write a motivational, self-help tome about how she had conquered mental illness and become a star. She wrestled with the book until realizing she simply couldn’t write it.
The 20 Best New Books Of Fall 2019, According To Authors
Summer may be over, but you still have plenty of things to look forward to this autumn, including an astounding array of must-read new books that span genres and age-groups. If you're anything like me, you might be feeling a bit overwhelmed by all your options, so to make it easier for you to choose your next book, I went directly to the experts: Here are the best new books of fall 2019, according to 20 authors.
When You Have Bipolar II, Some Days Are Fine
Some days are fine. I wake up determined to move through the hours like someone born with all their bones intact. Other days, I wake before the sun and lie in my bed staring at the ceiling, patiently waiting for the tears that have greeted me every day for weeks. Minutes pass and nothing comes to wet my face. I know this place. After months of slow descent, an excruciating decline to destruction, the fog has lifted. I am in that small slivered space of “better.” Some days are fine.
I'm Telling the Truth, but I'm Lying
In I’m Telling the Truth, but I’m Lying Bassey Ikpi explores her life—as a Nigerian-American immigrant, a black woman, a slam poet, a mother, a daughter, an artist—through the lens of her mental health and diagnosis of bipolar II and anxiety. Her remarkable memoir in essays implodes our preconceptions of the mind and normalcy as Bassey bares her own truths and lies for us all to behold with radical honesty and brutal intimacy.
I'm Telling the Truth, but I'm Lying: Essays
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! In I’m Telling the Truth, but I’m Lying Bassey Ikpi explores her life—as a Nigerian-American immigrant, a black woman, a slam poet, a mother, a daughter, an artist—through the lens of her mental health and diagnosis of bipolar II and anxiety. Her remarkable memoir in essays implodes our preconceptions of the mind and normalcy as Bassey bares her own truths and lies for us all to behold with radical honesty and brutal intimacy.
The Challenger Explosion Is the Day My Brain Broke
I remember that each classroom had a television in it so we could watch historic moments as they happened and this was undeniably one. All of us, overwhelmed with excitement, giggles and chatter ricocheting off the walls. I remember our teacher tried to quiet us, tried to sneak in a lesson, tried to tie what we were about to watch into a teachable moment, but she couldn’t hide her excitement either. Finally, she gave up and switched on the TV.
Opinion | What Bipolar II Feels Like
This bipolar II. This many-sided creature. This life of mine. This brain constantly in conference with the racing heart, reminding me to slow down, stay calm. Remember the first time you were ever on a Ferris wheel? Remember when you got to the very top and just sat there, the entire world at your feet? You felt like you could reach up and grab the sky. Your entire body tingled with the intersection of joy and indestructibility and fearlessness and that good anxious recklessness.
Dear America - Jose Antonio Vargas - Paperback
Skip to content Share This Title: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas On Sale: 09/03/2019 $15.99 Spend $49 and get FREE shipping on HC.com Quantity: About Product Details Praise THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER “This riveting, courageous memoir ought to be mandatory reading for every American.” —Michelle Alexander, New York Times bestselling author of The New Jim Crow “l cried reading this book, realizing more fully what my parents endured.” —Amy Tan, New York Times bestselling...
When It Hurts So Bad: On Fighting a Depressive Episode | Bassey Ikpi
7:00 a.m. The day begins like any other. I wake up at seven after going to bed around three or four. I stay in bed, staring at the ceiling, waiting for Boogie to wake before I drag myself out. He had gone to bed later than usual as well, so there were no signs of him stirring. I replay in my head all that I need to do. Get up. Brush my teeth. Get him up. Get him dressed. Wash his face. Brush his teeth. Make him toast. Get his coat on. Manipulate him into the car.
On Choosing Your Own Path and Chasing Checks
It's Monday. My direct deposit was supposed to be made a week ago.I spent most of the morning making casual-but-frantic inquiries with my bank's customer service.
On Choosing Your Own Path and Chasing Checks
It's Monday. My direct deposit was supposed to be made a week ago.I spent most of the morning making casual-but-frantic inquiries with my bank's customer service.
On Choosing Your Own Path and Chasing Checks
It's Monday. My direct deposit was supposed to be made a week ago.I spent most of the morning making casual-but-frantic inquiries with my bank's customer service.
On Choosing Your Own Path and Chasing Checks
It's Monday. My direct deposit was supposed to be made a week ago.I spent most of the morning making casual-but-frantic inquiries with my bank's customer service.
On Choosing Your Own Path and Chasing Checks
It's Monday. My direct deposit was supposed to be made a week ago.I spent most of the morning making casual-but-frantic inquiries with my bank's customer service.
No Shame: Me, Mariah and Bipolar Disorder
I’m not ashamed to say that I cried. This morning, I woke before the sun—both the one outside my window and the healing sunlight alarm clock a good friend gifted me. This clock removes the cruel and jarring alarm sounds in favor of a gentle, artificial dawning that mimics the rising sun. It’s been unbelievably healing the last few months. This morning, my body was heavy and aching from a workout and the anxiety that seems to follow me to bed, so my sleep was uncomfortable.
I'm Telling the Truth, but I'm Lying
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! In I’m Telling the Truth, but I’m Lying Bassey Ikpi explores her life—as a Nigerian-American immigrant, a black woman, a slam poet, a mother, a daughter, an artist—through the lens of her mental health and diagnosis of bipolar II and anxiety. Her remarkable memoir in essays implodes our preconceptions of the mind and normalcy as Bassey bares her own truths and lies for us all to behold with radical honesty and brutal intimacy.
When Therapy Is a Comfort
“So, what do you want to talk about today?” the thin Asian woman across from me asks. She asks this twice a week because I see her twice a week. Twice a week, I sit on a gray sofa with red accent pillows and talk for 50 minutes. She listens, often interjects and asks questions. If you didn’t know who we were or where we were, you would think we were two friends meeting for coffee, except one friend did all the talking and the other just interjected and listened and asked questions.
Breaking Up With Social Media Is an Act of Self-Care
I deactivated my Twitter and Facebook three months ago. I told myself it was because I needed to concentrate on writing, and social media provided too many opportunities to distract and distance myself from the work. I’m compulsive and obsessive by nature, so once I’m into something, it takes a lot of work not to immerse myself completely. It also takes an all-or-nothing cold turkey approach to quitting whatever random, relatively harmless thing onto which my addictive personality has latched.
How Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Perfectly Tackles Mental Health Issues
I wasn’t the least bit interested in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend when I first happened upon it on the CW. If the title didn’t completely turn me off, I didn’t understand the premise. How could an entire series be built around a woman basically stalking her ex and then randomly singing about it? It just seemed weird and sexist, like the title.
5 Apps to Make Your 2018 More Productive and Stress-Free
Many people look for different ways to minimize the time they spend on their devices, but for those of us who manage mental illness or mood disorders, “adulting” can be particularly overwhelming sometimes. Over the last few years, I’ve found a few apps that help me get through things. The apps listed below can help with everything from water-intake reminders to even waking up in the morning.
Taxicab Confessions
The new World Trade Center in all its grotesque, sanitized and bleached whiteness still makes me a bit sick. I remember the towers before the planes hit; I remember the smoke and grief that wafted into Brooklyn after they fell. So this new whale carcass filled with high-end stores and corny tourist attractions turns my stomach a bit.
Barracoon - Zora Neale Hurston - Hardcover
New York Times Bestseller • Amazon's Best History Book of the Year 201 • TIME Magazine’s Best Nonfiction Book of 2018 • New York Public Library’s Best Book of 2018 • NPR’s Book Concierge Best Book of 2018 • Economist Book of the Year • SELF.com’s Best Books of 2018 • Audible’s Best of the Year • BookRiot’s Best Audio Books of 2018 • The Atlantic’s Books Briefing: History, Reconsidered • Atlanta Journal Constitution, Best Southern Books 2018 • The Christian Science Monitor’s Best Books 2018 •...
It’s Complicated
Last week I watched Demi Lovato’s YouTube documentary, Simply Complicated, chronicling her well-publicized drug problem and eventual bipolar diagnosis. I remember when Demi first went public after a tabloid-filled meltdown; I was impressed by how she never hid behind the veil of “exhaustion” or tried to act as if it never happened (I’m looking at you, Britney), so when I saw it trending on Twitter, I decided to take some time to watch.
Slowly in the 4th Quarter
Today was one of those “Barely get dressed” kind of days. Today was one of those “You gotta get out of the house” kind of days. Today was one of those “You can’t let the world drain you” kind of days. Today was a “Leggings off the floor, relatively clean T-shirt and closest sneakers” kinda day. Today was gray and weight, dull and wet, but this book needs to be finished and I am notorious for letting doubt and insecurity hand me permission to quit things in the fourth quarter.
From Hallmark to the Royal Family: Why Made-for-TV Movies Are the Break From Reality We All Need
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square in Toronto on Sept. 25, 2017. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation)Terrible made-for-TV movies are my anti-drug and have been since I was a child. Back then they were often called “Movies of the Week” and were usually based on true stories.
How to Carry a Load
It’s always been difficult for me to distinguish between grief, exhaustion and depression. They all have the same creeping, phantomlike, hunted-and-haunted feeling. Like something is always behind you or following you. Or like when you walk into a spider web, and then for the rest of the day you feel like there is some wispy, string of nothing attacking your face.
When Dancing Soothes the Soul
I’ve always loved to dance. I’d spend hours transfixed whenever dancers from the ballet or Soul Train were on TV. We were poor and immigrant in Stillwater, Okla., so there weren’t that many opportunities to see anything live. We also couldn’t afford dance lessons, so there were no recitals or classes for me. I would see a routine and spend time in my room tirelessly trying to re-create what I saw.
And They Say Chi City ...
Some people just aren’t built to be rock stars. The big audiences, the grueling travel, the long stretches away from home, living out of suitcases and a new city almost every night … it takes a lot out of the most stable among us. In the early 2000s, I was touring with the national company of Def Poetry Jam. We had been on tour for a few months, flying from city to city. With each stop, each show, each new hotel, I was slowly disappearing.
Dirty, Pretty Things
Photo Illustration by Elena Scotti/The Root/GMG, photos via ShutterstockOften, after an intense therapy appointment, instead of sitting in my car, folded across the steering wheel before I have the strength to face the rest of the day, I make a detour to the T.J. Maxx on the way home. I don’t always buy anything; I just wander the racks and flip through organized chaos, waiting for my brain to soak and reset.
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