A collection of essay by girls aged 15-25, with an introduction by Lida Prypchan MD

In May 2020, with the pandemic in its early months, Non-Profit organisations Psychiatry, Philosophy & the Arts and The House That Dan Built launched a writing competition for Australian girls aged 15 - 25 on the themes of anxiety and creativity. The response was overwhelming. Featured here are the thirteen selected essays which reflect, with startling honesty and acuity, what it is to be a young woman in increasingly uncertain times.

"I have described anxiety as the destruction of thought. Subjectively, it is a state of uncertainty, apprehension and helplessness in the face of a vague or imprecise danger. In itself, anxiety is not abnormal; it's a natural response to a situation that threatens us. Anxiety becomes irrational when we exaggerate the response - when, in all or in the majority of our activities, we allow it to destroy our thoughts. Here, the matter is complicated as extreme anxiety can easily lead us to depression - or even to suicide. Anxiety is worrying in young people as it interrupts and distorts a critical time in their development. On a more human level, it robs them of what could, and should, be a relatively unencumbered time in their lives. Anxiety in the young is a waste of joy."
- Lida Prypchan MD