Pickles and Vodka: a Mental Health Podcast

We share listener responses to the question “Do you find mental health diagnoses helpful or hurtful?” Topics include flashbacks, stigma, accountability, and trendy soda. Enjoy! See below for ways you can join the next conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka * Subscribe to our Substack: Pickles and Vodka: a Mental Health Podcast * Watch on YouTube: @picklesandv...

On this episode, we go outside our comfort zone and discuss the concept of perceived safety and when it gets in the way. Tangents include hiding in the closet, finger painting, sad songs, and Awana trauma. Enjoy! Join the next conversation: * Leave us a voice message on www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka * Subscribe to our Substack: Pickles and Vodka: a Mental Health Podcast * Follow our Instagram:...

We share listener responses to the question “What does self-disgust look like for you?” Topics include hate vs. anger, stupid things we do that cause self-disgust to accumulate, “sinful” emotions, and a new merch idea. Enjoy! Surprise! This episode is available to watch as a video on our Youtube and Substack ! See below for ways you can join the next conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www...

We share some tragic news before re-releasing our pet episode we recorded back in 2022. Hug your animal companions tight today. Trigger warning for pet death. Original episode: #93 A Room of Chihuahuas feat. PETS * Leave us a voice message on www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka * Subscribe to our Substack: Pickles and Vodka: a Mental Health Podcast * Follow our Instagram: @picklesandvodkapodcast * J...

We discuss the role of mental health diagnoses and how they’ve impacted our lived experiences. Tangents include writing our memoirs, MyChart, and breastfeeding. Enjoy! Pickle poll due 4/4: What does self-disgust look like for you? How does it differentiate from anger? Pickle poll due 4/18: Do you find mental health diagnoses helpful or hurtful? How has that showed up in your own life? * Leave us a...

We share listener responses to the question “How did your family view mental health growing up?” Topics include whether or not we talk about mental health with our parents, how our families of origin still affect us decades later, and how to avoid ruining your kid’s psyche. Enjoy! Pickle poll due 4/4: What does self-disgust look like for you? How does it differentiate from anger? Thank you to ever...

Christina is joined by a friend from treatment to talk about how we’ve been since getting out. Digressions include losing your identity to your job, our sober bar outing, dating someone who is straight edge, and a rat infestation. Plus, there’s a surprise drop-in from a past guest. Enjoy! Pickle poll due 3/21: How did your family view mental health growing up? How does it affect you today? Pickle...

Inspired by personal experience, this episode explores different kinds of disgust—including disgust at ourselves—and what it means for our mental health. Tangents include face masks, toilet trauma, the difference between anger and disgust, and a truly appalling quiz. Enjoy! Content warning for sexual assault and gross body stuff. Pickle poll due 4/4: What does self-disgust look like for you? How d...

We share listener responses to the question, “Which stage of change are you in?” Tangents include Lauren’s quest for a therapist, Christina’s shaved head, and what changing your outfit four times says about your mental health. Enjoy! Thank you to everyone who answered this poll! See below for ways you can join the next conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka *...

We spill our psychological backstories and discuss how our families’ approaches to mental health shaped us. Tangents include spiritual warfare, conspiring cousins, and Lauren’s true calling. Enjoy! Content warning for self harm. Pickle poll due 3/14: How did your family view mental health growing up? How does it affect you today? * Leave us a voice message on www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka * Su...

We share and discuss listener responses to the question “How does money affect your mental health?” Tangents include Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Lauren’s confession, Christina’s trauma, and Dave Ramsey. Enjoy! Thank you to everyone who answered this poll! See below for ways you can join the next conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka * Subscribe to our Subst...

Change is the one thing we can always count on—so why is it so uncomfortable? This week, we discuss the six stages of change and ask ourselves when a change is truly necessary. Tangents include ADHD, vanity plates, Christina’s new treatment program, and Lauren’s science knowledge. Enjoy! Pickle poll: Which stage of change do you see yourself in today? What would it take to get to the next stage? *...

The queers take over on this special episode recorded in July with two of Christina’s friends. Topics include our relationships with drugs, gender, body image, and…fire? Enjoy! Content warning for substance use, weight (some numbers), and suicide. We’ll be back next week with our regular program! In the meantime, connect with us in the following ways: * Leave us a voice message on www.speakpipe.co...

We share listener responses to the question “Do you make New Year’s resolutions?” Tangents include dads and politics, habit trackers, trusting yourself, and sad salad. Enjoy! Thank you to everyone who answered this poll! See below for ways you can join the next conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka * Subscribe to our Substack: Pickles and Vodka: a Mental Hea...

Lauren makes us talk about money and the result is rich in discomfort. (See what we did there?) Tangents include moms and body dysmorphia, OCD, horse girls on a budget, and whether money can really buy happiness. Enjoy! Content warning for weight discussion in the intro (no numbers). * Leave us a voice message on www.speakpipe.com/picklesandvodka * Subscribe to our Substack: Pickles and Vodka: a M...

We share listener responses to the question, “Do you consider yourself a people pleaser?” Tangents include relapse denial, revealing eating disorders to significant others, neurodivergence, compulsory heterosexuality, and our roller skate vision. Enjoy! Thank you to everyone who answered this poll! See below for ways you can join the next conversation: * Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.c...

Somehow we survived 2024! On this special episode, we break down the last year and shake our heads at our past selves. Tangents include Lauren’s relationship development, Christina’s “writing” retreat, fear of dating, and a question for our listeners. Enjoy! Content warning for mentions of suicide. * Leave us a voice message on Speakpipe ! * Subscribe to our Substack: Pickles and Vodka: a Mental H...

Vikki returns to give us a glimpse into her secret life as a moderator for an eating disorder forum in the early 2000s. Tangents include Pro-Ana, the benefits and limitations of internet communities, grieving people you’ve never met, and how to make a personal impact. Content warning for suicide and descriptions of eating disordered behavior (no numbers). * Leave us a voice message on Speakpipe !...

We share listener responses to the question, “What are your triggers and how do you deal with them?” Tangents include internet bans, the cheapening of trauma, workplace horror stories, and triggering t-shirt ideas. Content warning for discussions of weight (no numbers). * Leave us a voice message on Speakpipe ! * Subscribe to our Substack: Pickles and Vodka: a Mental Health Podcast * Follow our In...

Two people pleasers talk about people pleasing and try not to step on any toes. Digressions include bicycle accidents, self-sabotage, capitalism, and micro-rebellions. Enjoy! * Leave us a voice message on Speakpipe ! * Subscribe to our Substack: Pickles and Vodka: a Mental Health Podcast * Follow our Instagram: @picklesandvodkapodcast * Join our Facebook group: Pickles and Vodka: a Mental Health P...

We share listener responses to the question “How has your mental health affected your relationships?” Along the way we talk about things you can ask for in a crisis, losing nice moments to mental illness, accidentally hurting loved ones, online dating, and some of our most embarrassing stories yet. Enjoy! * Leave us a voice message on Speakpipe ! * Subscribe to our Substack: Pickles and Vodka: a M...

We picked this topic just in time for the holidays! On this episode, we share some of our personal triggers and discuss ways we deal with them. Other topics include triggers as excuses, Wasted and the power of evocative content, how we feel about trigger warnings, and how to know when exposure therapy is a good idea. Enjoy! See below for ways to follow us and join in the conversation: * Leave us a...

We’re back…and one of us has a date! In light of this momentous occasion, we discuss what it’s like to be in relationships while struggling with chronic mental illness. Topics include filling the emptiness in your soul, talking to your partner about substance abuse and eating disorders, ghosting, and the best dating advice we’ve ever gotten. Enjoy! See below for ways to follow us and join in the c...

A message from a listener sparks a conversation about ways we’ve been surviving the spectacle that has been the 2024 presidential election. In between screaming into the void and talking ourselves off a ledge, we share anecdotes from past elections and laugh through the pain. Take a deep breath and…enjoy? See below for ways to follow us and join in the conversation: * Subscribe to our Substack: Pi...

We discuss listener responses to the question “What are you in denial about?” Topics include the pitfalls of awareness, chronic mental illness, romanticizing your bad choices, and why harm reduction will fix everything. We also tell stories about shoplifting. Enjoy? If you want to read the full essay that was published in response to this poll, you can find it on Kiki Walter’s Substack ! See below...