She Was Talking to Someone Who Wasn’t There | by Amna Noor | Jul, 2025

I’m the eldest daughter. I’ve always felt responsible for holding everything together. But nothing prepared me for the day my little sister started talking to someone who wasn’t there.

At first, I froze. I didn’t know if I should cry, call someone, or wait and pretend it would pass. Her eyes were scared but distant. I had never felt so helpless in my life. We were just two girls in the same room, but I couldn’t reach her.

That was the moment everything changed. I stopped trying to explain it away and started trying to understand. Psychology wasn’t just a subject anymore. It became my way of making sense of what we were living through.

I didn’t start with textbooks. I began with fear and confusion. I stayed up late Googling symptoms and searching for answers no one around me could give. That search led me to psychology courses from Yale and Johns Hopkins. I joined research studies from Harvard and UCL. I wasn’t doing it for school. I was doing it because I needed to understand what was happening to someone I love.

Some days, my sister is better. Some days, she still struggles. But I’ve changed. I don’t panic anymore. I listen. I ask better questions. I know now that healing takes time and that understanding someone’s mind is one of the most powerful things you can do for them.

I never imagined I’d want to study psychology. But now I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Watching her struggle broke me. Learning how to support her rebuilt me. Now, every chapter I study and every story I write is a small way of saying you’re not alone and we can get through this together.