Pickles and Vodka: a Mental Health Podcast

Join us as we limp across the 2025 finish line and reflect on the year’s whirlwind nature. Digressions include celebrating past guests, cute interactions with strangers, self-censorship on the pod, Six Feet Under , and…Michigan? Enjoy! Thanks to everyone who gave us a listen or interacted with us this year! Here’s how to join the conversation in 2026: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.co...

A listener voicemail leads to a conversation about unexpected loss, handling grief, and traumatic holiday memories. Tangents include snow, creative writing exercises, and a bicycle metaphor. Enjoy! Thoughts on the episode? Want to suggest a topic? Here’s how to join the conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka (first timers get a free sticker!*) * Subscribe to...

This week we tell stories from childhood and ask ourselves whether we’ve always been this way. Tangents include Barbie, nosebleeds, dancing while possibly concussed, and more fun stuff. Enjoy! Content warning for sexual assault. Take care of yourselves. Thoughts on the episode? Want to suggest a topic? Here’s how to join the conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandv...

In this loosely structured episode, we discuss frustrations, malaise, spending too much time in the past, unconditional love, and the American shopping mall. Enjoy! Thoughts on the episode? Want to suggest a topic? Here’s how to join the conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka (first timers get a free sticker!*) * Subscribe to our Substack and never miss an ep...

We go all over the place in this episode! Topics include being suspected of relapsing, what motorcycle riding and aerial arts have in common, emotional scarcity impacting relationships, and tattoo scams on Facebook. Plus, Lauren says goodbye to an era and Christina enters a contest. Enjoy! Thoughts on the episode? Want to suggest a topic? Here’s how to join the conversation: * Leave us a voice mes...

Your cohosts are finally back for a regular episode to revisit the topic of magical thinking and mental health. Tangents include swear words and affirmations, burning away your demons, and Rocky Horror. Enjoy! Thoughts on the episode? Want to submit a topic? Here’s how to join the conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka (first timers get a free sticker!*) * Su...

On this episode, we’re joined by a longtime internet friend to talk about assisted dying for mental illness. Topics include the government definitions of “chronic” and “incurable”, psychiatry as a broken industry, LEGO funerals, and what our favorite cheeses say about our worth as friends. This is a sensitive one, so take care of yourselves. The quiz we took: Everyone Loves A Good Charcuterie Boar...

Christina’s sister joins the podcast to process their disability hearing. Tangents range from childhood rituals and Martin Short impersonations to secret Facebook accounts and creepy music we used to fall asleep to. Enjoy! Thoughts on the episode? Here’s how to join the conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka (first timers get a free sticker!*) * Subscribe to...

Six years after recording episode 11 in 2019, I catch up with my friend Syd, an Alabama-Christian-homeschooler-turned-queer-Kiwi-weirdo. We talk about coming out as nonbinary, surviving an abusive relationship, the ripple effects of religious trauma, and ways we were cringe in the past (but sooo aren’t anymore). Tangents include Homeschoolblogger.com, New Zealand, and anesthesia. Enjoy! You can fo...

Lauren shares a phenomenon that takes us both by surprise. Side topics include haggling with your therapist, feeling forgotten, depending on pain to make art, and Intervention (the show). Enjoy! We’d love to hear from you! Here’s how to join the conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka (first timers get a free sticker!*) * Subscribe to our Substack and never mi...

Topics for this week include trauma comparisons, self-censorship, dubious growth, and mad libs. Enjoy? We’d love to hear from you! Here’s how to join the conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka (first timers get a free sticker!*) * Subscribe to our Substack and never miss an episode: picklesandvodka.substack.com * Watch our faces on YouTube: youtube.com/@pickl...

We hit our rock bottom as podcasters on this episode. Topics include asking parents for money in your 30s, self-care as a performance, and a palette destroyer. You’ve been warned. We’d love to hear from you! Here’s how to join the conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka (first timers get a free sticker!*) * Subscribe to our Substack and never miss an episode:...

We return from an unplanned break and catch each other up on the chaos that is the world right now. Topics include traumatic dreams, body neutrality, crackdowns on harm reduction, and an unexpected houseguest. Enjoy! References: * SAMHSA's response to new executive order We’d love to hear from you! Here’s how to join the conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka...

We respond to a voice message left by a concerned listener. Tangents include retraumatization, rock bottom, and a new roommate. Enjoy! The quiz we took: I Can Guess Your Exact Birthday By Which Of These Polarizing Foods You Like We’d love to hear from you! Here’s how to join the conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka (first timers get a free sticker!*) * Subs...

We’re back with more updates, trauma, and dark humor! Lauren shares a startling new development in her dog saga, Christina laments a bout of relocation depression, and we take a quiz. Tangents include ADHD-friendly jobs, library cards, and Michigan. Enjoy! The quiz we took: What Should You Major In At College? Books we referenced: * Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo * American War by Omar El Akkad We’d...

As the title suggests, we wanted to make an episode where we share what’s been going on in our lives. Topics include onions, a new mascot, moving, and death. Enjoy! We’d love to hear from you! Here’s how to join the conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka (first timers get a free sticker!*) * Subscribe to our Substack and never miss an episode: picklesandvodka...

We share listener responses to the questions “Have you ever been betrayed? Have you ever betrayed yourself?” Unsurprisingly, we spend most of the episode talking about childhood shame and religious trauma. Enjoy! We’d love to hear from you! Here’s how to join the conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka (first timers get a free sticker!*) * Subscribe to our Sub...

We pop in for a brief moment to announce upcoming changes to the podcast. Tangents include Chiweenies and a goth skate party. Enjoy! We’d love to hear from you! Here’s how to join the conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka (first timers get a free sticker!*) * Subscribe to our Substack and never miss an episode: picklesandvodka.substack.com * Watch our faces...

Lauren presents Christina with a series of questions that make everyone spiral. Topics include backstabbing besties, roommates gone wrong, getting ghosted, when your family thinks you’ve betrayed them, and feeling like a traitor in your body. Enjoy! Poll due 7/25: How have you experienced betrayal? how have you betrayed yourself? How do you respond? We’d love to hear from you! Here’s how to join t...

We share listener responses to the question “How does unhappiness serve you?” Along the way, Christina reveals a disturbing new development and Lauren continues to face a painful predicament. Luckily our listeners lift the mood and we’re (almost) able to laugh about it. Enjoy? We’d love to hear from you! Here’s how to join the conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesan...

What do religion, politics, and relationships have in common? Could it be that they make us lose our faith in humanity? On today’s episode, we talk about the differences between cynicism and pessimism, debate the merit of doubt, and find shreds of delight from a surprising source. Enjoy! Next poll: How does unhappiness serve you? (DUE 6/20) We’d love to hear from you! Here’s how to join the conver...

We had a plan for this episode, but the universe had another idea. Listen to us talk about pride, withdrawals, hospitalizations, gender, and slugs. Content warning for us being idiots. Enjoy! Current poll: How does unhappiness serve you? (DUE 6/20) We’d love to hear from you! Here’s how to join the conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka * Subscribe to our Sub...

After a week off, we share the latest chaos in our lives before Lauren takes us on a pursuit of…well, you know. Topics include contentment vs. happiness, feelings we confuse for happiness, why we need to be unhappy sometimes, and what’s bringing us joy these days. We’d love to hear from you! Here’s how to join the conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka * Subs...

We are once again joined by our friend Adeline, who challenges us to a game of increasingly vulnerable questions. Along the way, we discuss life transitions, accountability, and practice how to say no. Enjoy! The game we played was the Friendship Edition of We’re Not Really Strangers . They aren’t a paid sponsor, we just love an excuse to make one another uncomfortable. We’d love to hear from you!...

We are joined by friends and past guests Adeline (AKA Adie) and j’naii to celebrate Pickles and Vodka’s 200th episode! Topics include airport anxiety, setting unpleasant boundaries, being vulnerable on the internet, and the gift of online friendships. Plus, we share listener voicemails, eat biscuits from across the pond, and receive the best gift we’ve ever gotten on this show. Enjoy! We’d love to...