A Bipolar, A Schizophrenic, and a Podcast

We've all heard the adage, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." When it comes to depression, however, this expression holds even more significance. For one thing, there is no "cure" for depression, so prevention is obviously deserving of our efforts.

But how do you prevent something when you're already suffering from it? Moving forward with depression is the best most of us can hope for. Today's episode focuses on this journey -- and we fall down a few rabbit holes here and there.

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Betterhelp. Save 10% on your first month with the discount code "BSP22" or by clicking here.

Gabe Howard is a professional speaker, writer, and activist living with bipolar and anxiety disorders. Diagnosed in 2003, he has made it his mission to put a human face on mental illness.

He's the author of Mental Illness is an Asshole and Other Observations and a popular podcast host. Learn more at gabehoward.com.

Michelle Hammer is a Schizophrenia Activist and spends her time passionately fighting stigma. She is an NYC native featured in the WebMD documentary Voices, which was nominated for a Tribeca X Award at the Tribeca Film Festival 2018.

Founded and run by Michelle, Schizophrenic.NYC is a clothing brand with the mission of reducing stigma by starting conversations about mental health.

Today, we discuss the pros and cons of therapy. What it is, why it works, why it doesn't work, and every tangent in between. Spoiler Alert: One host loves therapy and the other host doesn't love therapy.

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Betterhelp. Save 10% on your first month with the discount code "BSP22" or by clicking here.

Gabe Howard is a professional speaker, writer, and activist living with bipolar and anxiety disorders. Diagnosed in 2003, he has made it his mission to put a human face on mental illness.

He's the author of Mental Illness is an Asshole and Other Observations and a popular podcast host. Learn more at gabehoward.com.

Michelle Hammer is a Schizophrenia Activist and spends her time passionately fighting stigma. She is an NYC native featured in the WebMD documentary Voices, which was nominated for a Tribeca X Award at the Tribeca Film Festival 2018.

Founded and run by Michelle, Schizophrenic.NYC is a clothing brand with the mission of reducing stigma by starting conversations about mental health.

Last summer, Michelle Hammer's friend died by suicide. In this heartfelt and vulnerable episode, Michelle discusses her emotions about her friend, including her anger and confusion. Both hosts discuss why it would be better if people saw suicide for what it really is -- death from mental illness.

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Betterhelp. Save 10% on your first month with the discount code "BSP22" or by clicking here.

Gabe Howard is a professional speaker, writer, and activist living with bipolar and anxiety disorders. Diagnosed in 2003, he has made it his mission to put a human face on mental illness.

He's the author of Mental Illness is an Asshole and Other Observations and a popular podcast host. Learn more at gabehoward.com.

Michelle Hammer is a Schizophrenia Activist and spends her time passionately fighting stigma. She is an NYC native featured in the WebMD documentary Voices, which was nominated for a Tribeca X Award at the Tribeca Film Festival 2018.

Founded and run by Michelle, Schizophrenic.NYC is a clothing brand with the mission of reducing stigma by starting conversations about mental health.

Skin Picking. Nail Biting. Hair Pulling. All of these "bad habits" fall under the category of Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors or BFRBs. In today's episode, Gabe and Michelle discuss their issues with BFRBs and some potential solutions -- though they readily admit sometimes the solution can be worse than the habit.

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Betterhelp. Save 10% on your first month with the discount code "BSP22" or by clicking here.

Gabe Howard is a professional speaker, writer, and activist living with bipolar and anxiety disorders. Diagnosed in 2003, he has made it his mission to put a human face on mental illness.

He's the author of Mental Illness is an Asshole and Other Observations and a popular podcast host. Learn more at gabehoward.com.

Michelle Hammer is a Schizophrenia Activist and spends her time passionately fighting stigma. She is an NYC native featured in the WebMD documentary Voices, which was nominated for a Tribeca X Award at the Tribeca Film Festival 2018.

Founded and run by Michelle, Schizophrenic.NYC is a clothing brand with the mission of reducing stigma by starting conversations about mental health.

"Hauntingly beautiful," "ride the lightning," and even famous quotes like "we're all mad here" are often used to positively describe mental illness. An "every cloud has a silver lining" mentality.

But is it true? Does mental illness have a positive side that is used to create things like incredible art and great literature? In this episode, our hosts push back against the idea that mental illness is anything other than a awful disease that doesn't contribute to a better life -- but keeps us from living our best ones.

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Betterhelp. Save 10% on your first month with the discount code "BSP22" or by clicking here.

Gabe Howard is a professional speaker, writer, and activist living with bipolar and anxiety disorders. Diagnosed in 2003, he has made it his mission to put a human face on mental illness.

He's the author of Mental Illness is an Asshole and Other Observations and a popular podcast host. Learn more at gabehoward.com.

Michelle Hammer is a Schizophrenia Activist and spends her time passionately fighting stigma. She is an NYC native featured in the WebMD documentary Voices, which was nominated for a Tribeca X Award at the Tribeca Film Festival 2018.

Founded and run by Michelle, Schizophrenic.NYC is a clothing brand with the mission of reducing stigma by starting conversations about mental health.

Kody Green, better known as the schizophrenic hippie, is a tik tok sensation -- among other things. But did you know that this podcast inspired him to start his channel? Our hosts were just as surprised as you. In this episode, Michelle, Gabe, and Kody discuss advocacy, hateful emails, and the benefits of putting yourself out there. Join us as two schizophrenics and a bipolar shoot the shit about what life is like living with mental illness.

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Betterhelp. Save 10% on your first month with the discount code "BSP22" or by clicking here.

Kody Green (He/Him) is a 26 year old with a diagnosis of Undifferentiated Schizophrenia. Kody is also the Founder of a non-profit, a motivational speaker and content creator with over 1.2 million followers on TikTok. He has struggled in the past with drug addiction, incarceration, and serious mental health issues.

Now, Kody shares his stories about his struggles and how to navigate through recovery, mental health issues, and life after incarceration. He chooses to pursue motivational speaking and mental health advocacy for schizophrenia awareness, drug recovery and second- chance opportunities because he has dealt with these struggles in his own life.

Learn more at KodyGreen.com, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn

Gabe Howard is a professional speaker, writer, and activist living with bipolar and anxiety disorders. Diagnosed in 2003, he has made it his mission to put a human face on mental illness.

He's the author of Mental Illness is an Asshole and Other Observations and a popular podcast host. Learn more at gabehoward.com.

Michelle Hammer is a Schizophrenia Activist and spends her time passionately fighting stigma. She is an NYC native featured in the WebMD documentary Voices, which was nominated for a Tribeca X Award at the Tribeca Film Festival 2018.

Founded and run by Michelle, Schizophrenic.NYC is a clothing brand with the mission of reducing stigma by starting conversations about mental health.

Recovery is hard to both achieve and maintain when it comes to mental illness. It's a long journey and in its wake are mistakes, missteps, and relapse. But, once you come out the other side and start living the life you were meant to live, everyone gets on board with the new you. Right?

Join our hosts as they discuss the family and friends who still don't trust our thoughts, views, and choices because of mental health symptoms we experienced in the past. Listen as they share how they feel about being told that everything they do isn't due to their personalities, but rather a symptom of bipolar or schizophrenia.

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Betterhelp. Save 10% on your first month with the discount code "BSP22" or by clicking here.

Gabe Howard is a professional speaker, writer, and activist living with bipolar and anxiety disorders. Diagnosed in 2003, he has made it his mission to put a human face on mental illness.

He's the author of Mental Illness is an Asshole and Other Observations and a popular podcast host. Learn more at gabehoward.com.

Michelle Hammer is a Schizophrenia Activist and spends her time passionately fighting stigma. She is an NYC native featured in the WebMD documentary Voices, which was nominated for a Tribeca X Award at the Tribeca Film Festival 2018.

Founded and run by Michelle, Schizophrenic.NYC is a clothing brand with the mission of reducing stigma by starting conversations about mental health.

Bipolar and schizophrenia can make handling finances challenging -- to say the least. Even famous pop stars like Britney Spears have had well documented issues managing money.

In this episode, our hosts discuss some common issues, ponder some solutions, and vent about the obstacles people living with mental illness face while trying to support themselves.

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Betterhelp. Save 10% on your first month with the discount code "BSP22" or by clicking here.

Gabe Howard is a professional speaker, writer, and activist living with bipolar and anxiety disorders. Diagnosed in 2003, he has made it his mission to put a human face on mental illness.

He's the author of Mental Illness is an Asshole and Other Observations and a popular podcast host. Learn more at gabehoward.com.

Michelle Hammer is a Schizophrenia Activist and spends her time passionately fighting stigma. She is an NYC native featured in the WebMD documentary Voices, which was nominated for a Tribeca X Award at the Tribeca Film Festival 2018.

Founded and run by Michelle, Schizophrenic.NYC is a clothing brand with the mission of reducing stigma by starting conversations about mental health.

"It's called two truths and a lie. It's called A Bipolar, a Schizophrenic, and a Podcast. It's not called blow sunshine up your ass and make you feel better." ~Gabe Howard

Season two episode one brings back fan favorite Two truths and a lie where Gabe and Michelle each tell three stories about their experiences with mental illness and try to figure out which one is just made up.

Plus, they announce a home version of the game for you to play -- and you can win free stuff.

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Betterhelp. Save 10% on your first month with the discount code "BSP22" or by clicking here.

About the Hosts:

Gabe Howard is a professional speaker, writer, and activist living with bipolar and anxiety disorders. Diagnosed in 2003, he has made it his mission to put a human face on mental illness.

He's the author of Mental Illness is an Asshole and Other Observations and a popular podcast host. Learn more at gabehoward.com.

Michelle Hammer is a Schizophrenia Activist and spends her time passionately fighting stigma. She is an NYC native featured in the WebMD documentary Voices, which was nominated for a Tribeca X Award at the Tribeca Film Festival 2018. Founded and run by Michelle, Schizophrenic.NYC is a clothing brand with the mission of reducing stigma by starting conversations about mental health.

Starting on January 4th, 2022, 10 brand new episodes will be released (weekly). Featuring the original hosts, Gabe Howard & Michelle Hammer, they talk living with with mental illness, love, the pandemic and how much they love -- and hate -- each other.

Subscribe to this feed to ensure you don't miss a thing!

Can't Wait? Check out the book, Mental Illness is an Asshole and Other Observations, available on Amazon or get a signed copy here. Not into books? Check out all the cool mental health related artwork and clothing at schizophrenic.nyc.