Mental Illness Happy Hour

The writer (Roseanne) and standup (Tonight Show, Late Late Show w/Craig Ferguson) opens up about the controlling environment she was raised in, her professional anxieties especially about her age (58) and her decades long battle with anorexia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/priv...

Although the writer/listener grew up in Hawaii, his childhood was far from paradise; enduring a cornucopia of PTSD, leaving him wondering what is real and what isn't.  He also shares his obsession with cults and and the time he joined one to write about it and almost lost his mind. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California P...

Amelia discusses her "nuclear" PMS (called PMDD), her first pregnancy and the pressures she felt for everything to be perfect and the crushing Postpartum Depression that followed.  She also talks about the childhood traumas that might be linked to it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19....

The podcaster (Keith and the Girl) was raised in NY but born in Israel to a mother of Iraqi heritage and an Iranian father, both of whom had traditional expectations for their daughter, none of which included her being engaged to a female-bodied man. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.c...

Born in Montreal to a WWII widow, the clinical and forensic psychologist talks about the sexual abuse he experienced as a boy, the stigma and confusion adult male survivors grapple with and ultimately how he healed.  Episode is sponsored by www1in6.org which he co-founded. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy No...

Raised by parents who talked about God a lot, the 29 year-old opens up about the hypocrisy he saw in a mom who couldn't parent him and a trucker dad who was either disappearing for months or dealing meth in their small Wyoming town. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-...

The comedian/actor/writer (Kids in the Hall, Larry Sanders, Hannibal) opens up about his childhood in Brampton Ontario, coming to terms with his sexuality and the bullying that eroded his self-esteem.  He also shares about a traumatic and violent even at his middle school that he considers seminal and his past battle with cancer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Pol...

Borderline Personality Disorder is often misunderstood.  The blogger, author, performer and mom explains what it's like to live with, how to manage it and when it's most challenging.  She also shares about her emotionally volatile childhood with her Russian Jewish relatives who emigrated from Estonia to Australia and being the mother of two boys.  She also shares about living with the idea that he...

The 28 year-old listener opens up about his familiy's history of avoiding emotions, his cries for help, struggling to live on $8/hour, his cutting and self-abuse and his shame over his paraphilia (adult baby) fetish. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Born to a drug-addict teenage mom, Julie was given up for adoption and raised by a stoic military dad and Fundamentalist mom whose obession with demons comes close to resembling the mother from "Carrie".   There much more to her story including her humor and resilience.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Not...

Paul's friend shares about being committed to a psych hospital at 17 over a breakup, discovering drugs (crack) and how to hustle money to feed his habit.  Hitting bottom in the desert and the dog that might have saved his life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-...

The actress/writer/standup/podcaster/tv host joins Paul at LAPodfest in front of a live audience and discusses her outcast status as a child, where her drive comes from, growing to understand her father and appreciate the challenges of her marriage. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.co...

The 26 year-old shares about emigrating to the U.S. from Mexico at 8, his fear of his father, "passing" for white, his body dysmorphia and the trouble feeling his feelings rather than shutting down. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

She was raised by a father with Schizo-Affective Disorder who would often break from reality.  By her twenties she was battling the same disorder along with bulimia, anorexia and cutting.  Hospitalized over 80 times, she shares about coming out the other side and using her experience to help others. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privac...

He is still physically female but has always identified as a male.  He talks about what it means to be genderfluid or genderqueer as well as pansexual and the diffiult road in discovering who he is and expressing that around others, especially family. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19....

Raised by attentive, loving parents she neverlheless grew up with a pervasive feeling of emptiness that she sought to soothe through relationships with men.   In her words she, "Burnt her life to the ground", but used the experience and pain to grow. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.c...

The 22 year-old opens up about the guilt and anxiety of growing up feeling like it was his duty to keep his mother out of her depression, even though she was emotionally incestuous with him, how he finally rebelled, and the toll it has taken. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/priva...

Paul reads an article written by Alan Rappoport PhD about Co-Narcissism, which he describes as a result of being raised by one or sometimes two narcissistic parents.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The standup comedian (Late Night with Craig Ferguson) opens up about her conservative Catholic upbringing and coming to terms with being lesbian.  She and Paul talk about bad porn, being turned on by things we wouldn't want in real life and the heavy burden of being co-dependent. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Pri...

The 3rd generation Japanese-American psychologist shares his experience and observations counseling sexual predators (rapists and child molesters) at Coalinga, a lockdown mental hospital in central California and how he used Buddhism to help him cope. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19....

The 31 year-old listener ponders her low self-esteem, food issues, history of self-mutilation, compulsive spending and suicide attempts when her parents were "nothing but supportive". See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Two sons of Holocaust survivors, Michael Rozbruch and Amir Tiles sit down with psychotherapist Joel Schwartz whose grandparents are also survivors and they discuss the ripples of PTSD still felt today within the families, caused by the trauma.  Amir's father Melvin, an 85 year-old Polish survivor also joins them. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://ar...

The therapist who is also in recovery helps Paul and some listeners (via surveys) navigate their discomfort and confusion about their current issues.   They discuss the cliched but effective tools of self-parenting and inner-child work, as well as the line therapists draw regarding self-revelation to their clients. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://...

A father/brother figure to Paul, the high-school teacher reflects on his Mexican heritage, violent upbringing, tour in Vietnam, stints as a bouncer at a Hell's Angels bar, and a Club Med guide, his getting "struck sober" and how he has evolved to become the man his father never was. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California...

The comedian (Last Comic Standing, Twitwits) talks her own alcoholism, her dad's awkward foray into lingerie photography, craving her mother's acceptance and understanding her own fluid sexuality. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.