Serotonin Press’s first published book: Serotonin an Anthology of Poetry and Prose on Mental Illness and Suicide Prevention is now available for purchase. Below is the introduction to the anthology, which outlines the structure and importance of the book.
I started Serotonin as an online poetry journal in May of 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic after receiving my first unemployment check. It had been two months since I was laid off from work in the restaurant industry and like many others who lived alone in quarantine I struggled with my mental health. Ten years prior I was hospitalized for an attempted suicide and sought various treatments for major depression throughout my 20’s. I realized that the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated my mental illness, and turned (as I had before in other times of crisis) to writing poetry to help deal with it.
As I searched for literary publications to submit my work to, I felt that there needed to be a space that published literature that focused solely on mental illness, and so Serotonin began. I set aside a portion of my unemployment to pay contributors who wrote poetry and short prose about their mental illnesses. The project quickly became popular on social media and I received hundreds of submissions from people around the world. This anthology collects a selection of 115 works of poetry and prose originally published on what is now serotoninpress.com (formerly serotoninpoetry.org). Of the 115 writers published within, 34 are of international origin and 81 from the USA, with 12 from Nigeria, 6 UK, 5 Canada, 2 Singapore, and 1 writer each from Australia, Greece, India, Philippines, Ireland, Pakistan, Hong Kong, France, and Uganda.
From teenagers to ninety-year-olds, from Vancouver to Philadelphia, Nigeria to Uganda, first-time published writers to famous poets, Serotonin: an anthology on mental illness and suicide prevention shares poems and prose with an incredible amount of diversity. The diversity contained within not only lies in the range of ages, geography, ethnicity, religion, gender, and LGTBQ+ identities but also the neurodiversity of the contributors. This anthology is a collection of writings that reflect on the spectrums of what have been long referred to as “mental illnesses” as well as the more recent term neurodivergence. I am still using the problematic term of mental illness here for lack of more widely recognized words to describe the experiences of individuals who are not neurotypical.
I’ve organized this anthology into different sections in order to provide a framework for understanding these brilliant writers in the context of what they’re experiencing. The different sections often overlap with one another. A poem may deal with multiple categories, i.e. ADHD and anxiety, but placed under whichever fits best overall. Each piece is written based on the experiences of the author. There is no speculative fiction/poetry involved. That being said, there are creative liberties taken, and no depictions in the following works are of anyone who has not shared them willingly, voluntarily, and with full consent.
I am concerned with the reader’s experience in confronting these difficult topics. Instead of offering various trigger warnings at the beginning of each piece, please understand that this anthology on a whole deals with a variety of what may be considered disturbing subject matters. The way that the sections are sequenced should help in forewarning the reader of whether they want to continue in reading on the subject matter, with the intensity of the pieces generally increasing the further one reads a section.
There are ten sections to this anthology: Depression, Anxiety, ADHD, OCD, Schizophrenia, Autism, Bipolar Disorder, Eating Disorders, Trauma, and Self-Harm. Take particular care in recognizing the graphic nature of works under eating disorders, trauma, and self-harm. The trauma section features some works that deal with sexual assault. Both eating disorders and self-harm have depictions of bodily harm that some may find unsettling.
I am honored and excited to share these poems and prose with more readers by publishing this anthology. Serotonin went on hiatus for 2 years between 2022-2024, so this anthology is a long time coming. I want to thank all contributors, readers, and editors who have helped me out on the masthead over the years. A huge thank you to Mackenzie Moore for the lovely artwork. Thank you very much to Kavita Khajuria for her support and her work on book reviews for Serotonin. I would lastly like to acknowledge the contributors to Serotonin who have passed away, including Simon Perchik, Roberta Santlofer, and Michelle Fulkerson.
-Founding Editor, Sean W. Lynch
Below are some resources for suicide prevention (note that the national suicide prevention hotline may in extreme circumstances contact emergency authorities if they find you to be a threat to yourself or others. The other hotlines do not contact police):
National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 988 (Call or Text)
Samaritans NYC: 212-673-3000
Thrive Lifeline 313-662-8209 (Text Only)
Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860 (For Trans Callers)
Call Blackline 1-800-604-5841 (For BIPOC Callers)
Serotonin 