Back from the Abyss: Psychiatry in Stories | Psychotherapy, Trauma, and Psychedelics

Are GLP-1s the best thing to come along in psychiatry in years…. or are they going to turn out to have a dark side,  by triggering eating disorders, causing undernutrition, and narrowing what’s an acceptable body type? Dr. H sits down with nationally known eating disorder specialist and the author of Sick Enough, Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani, to explore both the hopeful upside of these meds as well as their hidden risks.

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Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani

https://www.gaudianiclinic.com/#welcome2

Elemental Psychedelics

https://www.elementalpsychedelics.com/

Explore every episode through themes, domains, formats, and speakers.
The BFTA CODEX is a listener-built and curated field guide to the podcast.
https://bfta-codex.org

BFTA episode recommendations/Podcast page

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcast
https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/

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Dr. H sits down with psychotherapist and Enneagram expert Joy Gribble (Reflective Healing; Elemental Psychedelics) to explore the fascinating nexus between psychedelic-assisted therapy and the Enneagram.

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Joy Gribble

https://www.reflectivehealing.com/about-joy-gribble-fort-collins

Elemental Psychedelics

https://www.elementalpsychedelics.com/

Explore every episode through themes, domains, formats, and speakers.
The BFTA CODEX is a listener-built and curated field guide to the podcast.
https://bfta-codex.org

BFTA episode recommendations/Podcast page

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcast
https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/

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This is the story of Milena, starting with her early years in a Bulgarian orphanage, then the hope and promise of being adopted by an American family, and finally the emerging and increasingly ominous consequences of early attachment trauma and institutionalization. Adoption is complicated and multi-layered….and the unforeseen consequences of adoption can play out over a lifetime.  Milena thought she had won the golden ticket out of the orphanage and into a new life in America, but after the initial honeymoon period, the deeper reality of what it means to spend the first 5 years of life in an institutional setting began to swallow her up and tear her apart. 

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Elemental Psychedelics

https://www.elementalpsychedelics.com/

Explore every episode through themes, domains, formats, and speakers.
The BFTA CODEX is a listener-built and curated field guide to the podcast.
https://bfta-codex.org

BFTA episode recommendations/Podcast page

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcast
https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/

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In this season 8 opener Rosy shares both her experience recovering from bipolar disorder and the heartbreak of watching her beloved son begin to show signs of an even more extreme form of bipolar disorder called schizoaffective disorder. This is a story in parallel, two lives deeply intertwined, yet also slowly tearing apart as her son’s illness became increasingly severe.

Support the show

Elemental Psychedelics

https://www.elementalpsychedelics.com/

Explore every episode through themes, domains, formats, and speakers.
The BFTA CODEX is a listener-built and curated field guide to the podcast.
https://bfta-codex.org

BFTA episode recommendations/Podcast page

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcast
https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/

Support the show

In this second of two parts, Laura Mae Northrup shares stories of how she found a healing path through connection, therapy, and psychedelics. 

Support the show

Laura Mae Northrup

https://www.lauramaenorthrup.com/

Elemental Psychedelics

https://www.elementalpsychedelics.com/

Explore every episode through themes, domains, formats, and speakers.
The BFTA CODEX is a listener-built and curated field guide to the podcast.
https://bfta-codex.org

BFTA episode recommendations/Podcast page

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcast
https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/

Support the show

This is the first of a two part summer special with Laura Mae Northrup, who was first featured in the original BFTA summer special back in 2022. In this first episode, in an excerpt from her wonderful podcast called Inside Eyes, we hear Laura describe her long and grueling battle with suicidality, which emerged as a result of childhood sexual abuse. In the second episode in two weeks, Laura and Dr. H dive deep into her personal healing journey— what worked, what didn’t, and how she was able to finally put her chronic suicidality to rest. 

Support the show

Laura Mae Northrup

https://www.lauramaenorthrup.com/

Elemental Psychedelics

https://www.elementalpsychedelics.com/

Explore every episode through themes, domains, formats, and speakers.
The BFTA CODEX is a listener-built and curated field guide to the podcast.
https://bfta-codex.org

BFTA episode recommendations/Podcast page

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcast
https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/

Support the show

After seven years and so many powerful stories, Craig announces a tectonic shift in the BFTA plates.

Support the show! 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/396871/support

Closing song-- "Come and go" by Timber Choir

Bringing Therapy into Med Management-- An intensive workshop for psych NPs and PAs, June 3-6 2026 in Ft Collins

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/bringing-therapy-into-med-management/

"I Love You, I Hate You, Are You My Mom?"  An intensive experiential workshop exploring transference and countertransference with Dr. H and Dr. Hillary McBride, June 18-20 2026 in Vancouver/Chilliwack BC

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/i-love-you-i-hate-you-are-you-my-mom/

Explore every episode through themes, domains, formats, and speakers.
The BFTA CODEX is a listener-built and curated field guide to the podcast.
https://bfta-codex.org

BFTA episode recommendations/Podcast page

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcast
https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/

Support the show

Amidst a long catalog of previous BFTA stories featuring complex or developmental PTSD, today’s story is one of classic DSM-style PTSD, it’s a story of both medical and parenting trauma, of facing the fear of annihilation and death. 

In this three part story,  first we hear Tracy tell of the increasingly severe medical challenges of her children, then Tracy flashes back to describe her own terrifying emergency hospitalization as a 5 year old, then finally we trace Tracy’s treatment journey through traditional psychotherapy and eventual MDMA-assisted therapy as she tries to find a way to calm her nervous system and find peace.

Support the show! 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/396871/support

Bringing Therapy into Med Management-- An intensive workshop for psych NPs and PAs, June 3-6 2026 in Ft Collins

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/bringing-therapy-into-med-management/

"I Love You, I Hate You, Are You My Mom?"  An intensive experiential workshop exploring transference and countertransference with Dr. H and Dr. Hillary McBride, June 18-20 2026 in Vancouver/Chilliwack BC

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/i-love-you-i-hate-you-are-you-my-mom/

Explore every episode through themes, domains, formats, and speakers.
The BFTA CODEX is a listener-built and curated field guide to the podcast.
https://bfta-codex.org

BFTA episode recommendations/Podcast page

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

BFTA on IG @backfromtheabysspodcast
https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/

Support the show

In this solo episode Dr. H shares his thoughts on the unexpected risks of feeling too much positive energy and/or identification with a patient.  This talk is also a sneak preview into the workshop that Dr. H teaches with Dr. Hillary McBride called "I Love You I Hate You...Are You My Mom?'

Support the show! 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/396871/support

Bringing Therapy into Med Management-- An intensive workshop for psych NPs and PAs, June 3-6 2026 in Ft Collins

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/bringing-therapy-into-med-management/

"I Love You, I Hate You, Are You My Mom?"  An intensive experiential workshop exploring transference and countertransference with Dr. H and Dr. Hillary McBride, June 18-20 2026 in Vancouver/Chilliwack BC

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/i-love-you-i-hate-you-are-you-my-mom/

Explore every episode through themes, domains, formats, and speakers.
The BFTA CODEX is a listener-built and curated field guide to the podcast.
https://bfta-codex.org

BFTA episode recommendations/Podcast page

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

Support the show

Today’s story is one of genetic predisposition, environmental triggers, and finally a psychiatric flame thrower.  Whitney’s uncle had a particularly severe form of bipolar disorder and she too began to develop mood instability and depression as an adolescent. When we think of environmental triggers for mania, we tend to think of sleep deprivation, substances, and the postpartum period. And through her 20s and 30s, Whitney began to have more serious bouts of hypomania during times of sleep deprivation or in her postpartum periods. But it took an increasingly severe weed habit to bring her to the horrors of mania with psychosis. 

Support the show! 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/396871/support

Bringing Therapy into Med Management-- An intensive workshop for psych NPs and PAs, June 3-6 2026 in Ft Collins

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/bringing-therapy-into-med-management/

"I Love You, I Hate You, Are You My Mom?"  An intensive experiential workshop exploring transference and countertransference with Dr. H and Dr. Hillary McBride, June 18-20 2026 in Vancouver/Chilliwack BC

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/i-love-you-i-hate-you-are-you-my-mom/

Explore every episode through themes, domains, formats, and speakers.
The BFTA CODEX is a listener-built and curated field guide to the podcast.
https://bfta-codex.org

BFTA episode recommendations/Podcast page

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

Support the show