Melodrama!
In 2004, I was an undiagnosed neurodivergent teenager who had given up on trying to fit in. It felt like everyone was trying to mold me into their version of perfect by chastising me when I did something “wrong.” It was confusing, exhausting, and demoralizing. I managed to make a few friends in high school who seemed to just get me, but the last thing I wanted to do was talk about how I felt — until all my friends started signing up for blogging accounts on Melodramatic.com.
Shielded by the anonymity of a screen name, it was the first time I felt safe talking about my mental health — and discovered there were so many other teenagers like me who felt the same way. Even all these years later, if you search “Melodramatic.com” on Reddit,...