From a young age, Lucy Nichol has always been on edge. Whether it’s because of her fear of beards, a general sense that she can catch a disease from anything, or the belief that she’s going to throw up at any given moment, she’s never really felt safe. In A Series of Unfortunate Stereotypes, Lucy explores the different lenses through which she – and other people – have viewed her mental health problems. She tackles a number of different stereotypes placed on people living with mental illness, including the idea that they are narcissists, hypochondriacs, and psychos.<   After writing a blog post about her journey, Lucy realised that she wasn’t alone in feeling this way. And so she began to talk more about her experience, eventually becoming a columnist in Sarah Millican’s magazine Standard Issue. In writing about her life in such an open way, Lucy has been able to claw her way out of her anxiety. A Series of Unfortunate Stereotypes is one of the most fortunate things you could read!