Mad Poetry: Mental Illness Reimagined

**Trigger Warning: Mental Illness, Suicide** ____________________________________________________________________ This episode focuses on the debate in Canada on medical assistance in dying (MAiD) for people living with a mental illness. The Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying Published its report in June 2026. They had one recommendation: to exclude mental illness from MAiD. In...

** Trigger Warning: Mental Illness ** This episode is a short one and a personal one. It focuses on bipolarity. In it I also share with you my current experience with my bipolar disoder. Resources: If you or someone you know is suicidal, for immediate help, please call the suicide prevention phone line for US & Canada: 988 Canadian Psychological Association Mental health support - Government o...

Welcome to Season 2 of Mad Poetry: Mental Illness Reimagined . In this season, I will be delving deeper into madness, how it is constructed by social and cultural norms, how mad people are being oppressed and marginalized by society. I will also look at madness as a lived identity, as a strength and as resistance.  * Trigger Warning: mental illness and suicide* In today's episode, I talk abou...

Today’s episode is a short one but tackles a big issue: the inextricable link between physical and mental health.  The poem I read is “My knee was born crooked”, the knee pain a metaphor for psychological suffering. Send us Fan Mail Instagram: @themadpoetrypodcast Email: themadpoetrypodcast@gmail.com

This episode is about perimenopause, an issue we do not talk about enough despite it being an important stage of life for women. We also delve into hysteria a long forgotten diagnosis. However, there persists an association between it and the perimenopausal woman in the collective imagination. ** I have added an addendum at the end of the episode correcting two errors that slipped through - you’ll...

Trigger Warning: this episode will address suicide, suicidal ideation and behavior. If you are having suicidal thoughts please contact one of the resources below and your medical or mental health professional. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In this episode I use my personal story as well as scientific and clinical knowledge to talk about suicide and suicide prevention...

Trigger Warning: Mental Illness This episode explores how stigma shapes the lives of those of us living with a mental illness, personally, professionally, and socially. The dominant stories society tells about us cast us at best as dysfunctional, and at worst as unstable or dangerous. This episode is also about breaking the stigma, having our voices heard, and reclaiming our humanity. Poem : Madwo...

Trigger Warning: mental illness & suicide This episode focuses on Bipolar Disorder which is characterized by highs (mania or hypomania) and/or lows (depressive episodes). Although this illness can have devastating effets and requires treatment, sometimes those of us who live with it miss the elements of the highs (eg., high self-esteem; high productivity; euphoria; etc.). An overall picture of...

*Trigger Warning: mental illness and suicide* Welcome to the first episode of Mad Poetry: Mental Illness Reimagined. Today's episode will focus on that "in-between space", the one in which we find ourselves when we first start feeling mentally unwell, when our symptoms first start,  all the way to the moment we finally get answers regarding our condition. We will also talk about wha...