This photograph taken of me has been shared with probably only five people. "Aren't you afraid someone will recognize you?" is a question you might be thinking of asking me. What I will answer is, "No, there is not a chance someone would see this photo and be able to recognize me. That is, of course, unless they too had been in treatment that dark winter of 1990 at Ralpha." But, what I will do is exploit me in order to bring home some valid points about the illness of hypochondria.
The photo in the first article and this photo have something in common. They both represent deep inner negative emotions felt by thousands of people. "Why show us such a sad photo?" you also may be wondering. My answer back is in the form of a challenge: take a picture of how you appear today. Spend time with me (two months or more,) by visiting every other week and reading the articles about hypochondria. It is my belief that at the end of that time period you will be able to take another picture of yourself; and, be able to see a great deal of difference. This process will work if you are ill a lot of the time, or hypochondriac in nature. If nothing else, even if you are leery about taking the challenge of the photograph, sit back and enjoy the rest of Blame's story.
When Blame entered Ralpha in 1990 for depression, suicidal behaviors and abuses, she was under the opinion that she was 'to blame.' You were to blame. He and she were to blame. They were to blame. Blame was her best friend... Her whole self took on the identity of Blame. The absolute truth was and still is they were to blame and so was she.
One day when Blame was around seven, she and Karen were playing together skipping down the sidewalk of Beaumont, Texas. Karen was singing a little tune, "step on a crack and you break your mother's back." Blame stumbled on a pebble near her left foot. She then stepped right in the middle of a huge crack in the sidewalk. Blame almost never got over it - the event haunted her until 1990. She kept her thoughts to herself, but still Blame watched her mother like a hawk... just waiting for the day that her mother's back would break as a result of Blame stepping on that crack.
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