Mental Illness Happy Hour

Panic attacks, agoraphobia, anxiety and depression had brought Sam to a very dark place a few years ago and he decided he needed help. Bit by bit he began to see how his childhood and negative self-beliefs had to be re-examined. A new clarity on the dysfunction in his family (a disinterested workaholic dad and a controlling, angry mother) gave him the hope to began protecting himself from the pain...

The 32 year-old poet, mental health advocate and daughter of a Nigerian immigrant father and Brooklyn mother opens up to Paul about her emotional and mental turnaround after years of feeling suicidal and several times attempting it. She details the ways her depression, disconnection and fear of taking off her "mask" as the perfect, popular girl played in leading her to believe it was a good idea....

Paul's longtime friend, standup (Letterman) and actor (Everybody Loves Raymond) shares about his struggles with OCD, ADD and feeling the need to control people's opinions about his behavior even after lashing out at someone. He talks about his childhood and the negative self-beliefs and self-hatred that he's now understanding have been driving his behaviors and fears.   For more on Andy go to www....

The mortician, TED Talk speaker and author of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes , talks about her childhood OCD and fascination with death as a result of witnessing a tragedy, how she'd like to see the American funeral industry change and how death is viewed/embraced around the world via a read excerpt from her new book From Here To Eternity: Traveling the World To Find The Good Death .   Follow Caitlin on...

The comedian, co-author of He's Just Not That Into You and longtime friend of Paul drops by to lighten his day up. They laugh at their fears, loves and thoughts about mortality and getting older.   Check out Greg's PODCAN podcast network Here is the episode with Paul that he talked about Follow him on Twitter @GregoryBehrendt Check out his website  http://www.gregorybehrendt.com/ Visit his Faceboo...

Specializing in treating clients whose self-judgement of their thoughts results in obsession and compulsions, Kimberley sits down with Paul and talks about the different forms OCD can take and how to treat it or support someone you love without enabling their compulsions.  She and Paul also play a game she plays with clients called "One Up" where they try to outdo each other in sharing "disgusting...

Paul's support group friend Meredith opens up about being raised by parents who lacked a sense of privacy or sexual boundaries; being sexualized by her father, mother (who has a long history of "accidentally" showing her vagina) and step-mother in covert but damaging ways, being comfortable giving help but not taking it or asking for it; being a perfectionist, self-harm, being attracted to emotion...

Raised in financial privilege but emotional poverty, the actor/writer/standup reflects on her "don't give a fuck" eating disorder, drug and alcohol years trying to stuff the real feelings of abandonment, not being good enough, anxiety, anger and feeling invisible especially in comparison to her golden-child brother. She gets honest about the "self-centered demon inside me" that drove her actions u...

The actor/writer/comedian known for the Netflix show Love , the movie Inglourious Basterds and IFC's Comedy Bang! Bang! opens up about his battles with anxiety, OCD, taking on other people's emotions, people pleasing, wanting attention, shame, fear of letting people down and the role vulnerability and therapy have played in him finding emotional stability and peace.   Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulR...

The author ( Every Moment of a Fall: Recovery Thru EMDR Therapy ) opens up in front of a live audience in Oakland about the years she abused herself through bad relationships, booze and sex before therapy and EMDR helped her confront her true feelings about her predatory father, passive mother, abusive step-father and the plane crash she survived as a 16 year-old. Visit Carol's website www. Carol-...

Paul's support group friend shares about recovery and battles with binge-eating, shame, compulsive exercise, not knowing what he looks like, porn addiction, love addiction, fear of leaving relationships, feeling like he "is enough", growing up in a family where one sibling takes up all the parents' attention and energy, surviving the suicide of his brother and the huge impact learning to be vulner...

YouTube personality Sarah Sterling is 26 and was obsessed with Harry Potter (and Disney) since day one. At a convention she met a singer who captivated her. He was 24 and she was 16. Looking back, she sees it as statutory rape and is processing that. What's possibly even harder to process for her is that she still hasn't told her overly-protective easily-overreactive mom. Sarah talks about how she...

Louise (a pseudonym) shares about the moment in her otherwise mostly happy childhood that things changed.  She shares about the abuse at a posh Harry-Potteresque school when she was six by a headmaster who walked the dark halls with a torch; her mom's drinking, letting go of childhood shame, fear of conflict, how parents can support an abused child, when kids sexually abuse other kids, inner child...

Why do some people enjoy physical pain or become aroused by it? For Kal, the discovery came with a lot of complications; he was a young boy and it was at the hands of a powerful and sadistic pedophile Rabbi (Heshy Brier) who is now a fugitive living in Israel. Kal shares about his years of self-destruction and bottoming out before eventually getting sober and starting the process of healing and ad...

Imagine getting gay hate mail from your own family.  Or finding a letter where your parents talk about you in a way that confirms your worst fears.  How does Bipolar 2 compare to having something like cancer?  Comedian and author (How To Be Depressed: A Guide) Dana Eagle opens up about being a lonely kid in the 80s whose parents couldn't relate to her perhaps b/c her dad was alcoholic or her mom w...

He's authored Grammy-nominated hits for the biggest artists, put out his own albums, written best-selling books on baseball, and directed a documentary on the Beatles.  And for as long as he can remember he has struggled with anxiety, panic attacks and feeling disconnected.  So what did he do?  He got his masters in clinical psychology.  He opens up about his life and his approach to dealing with...

Fat-shamed as a child by her mother and classmates, writer-performer Chelsea Frank, now 24, opens up about the complex role food plays in her life.  She talks about her struggles with weight, self-hatred, bingeing and restricting, going to "fat camps", life inside an eating disorder rehab and cutting contact with her abusive mother. Follow Chelsea on Twitter @ChelseaSFrank and on Instagram @Chelse...

Creative and sensitive, born and raised in 1980's communist East Germany by a dysfunctional family, Anne's abuse was not dramatic, more like death by 1000 cuts.  Bearing the brunt of being a first child and resented for her intelligence, she developed BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder) but has always turned the anger inwards, rarely if ever lashing out.  She talks about the benefits of learning...

What goes on in someone when they're jealous, possessive, obsessive or need to create drama?  Mila was born into a family where her parents "couldn't live with/couldn't live without each other"  and she found herself as an adult becoming like them, She also began snooping on her partners and engaging in online and in-person affairs despite knowing better and wanting to stop but unable to leave her...

19 year-old JT shares about the crippling anxiety, panic attacks and fear of abandonment he tried to alleviate for years through being hostile and controlling (of course it backfired) before finally deciding to get help. He shares with Paul the painful working-class childhood he had including the death of his parents when he was 8 and embracing his sexuality at 16. He talks about the importance mi...

Christina L (a pseudonym) shares about learning to stand up for herself after an abusive rehab therapist preyed on her as she was getting sober and the confusion of not knowing what he was doing was wrong.  She shares about her dysfunctional family, being bullied by boys in middle school, binge eating, and always being the "good child" by never making waves (unlike her sister who got most of the a...

LMFT therapist Katie Vernoy and Paul respond to listener questions around the topics of 1) How childhood sexual abuse affects the survivors when they become adults and 2) How can people avoid job or helping burnout. They talk about the specifics of self-care and coping tips, acceptance vs approval, forgiveness, anger, misguided generosity, overprotective parents, people who can't say no and is it...

The Australian professional trombonist shares about the mental, emotional and logistical rigors of making a living as a classical musician and some insights into what drove him (and his peers) to such obsessive lengths. We get a peek behind the curtain into the dysfunction and sickness that can fester in such a high-pressure workplace and the poor coping mechanisms used by people who were raised t...

Rhonda says "It took me 20 years to get thru that day" as she opens up about the event that changed her life forever when she was 14 years old.   She talks about how it changed her view of God, herself and the world around her, sending her on a path or self-destruction she barely survived until finally dealing with the pain and anger, eventually healing and finding her life's purpose. Follow Rhond...

Rarely do we talk about the spouse of someone battling a serious mental illness. Mark and Giulia had never heard of Bipolar I with psychosis until she broke from reality well into their marriage. Taped in front of an audience in Oakland, they bare their souls about the pain and confusion of her treatment and Mark realizing how much help spouses also need. Check out Mark's new book My Lovely Wife i...