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

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. 

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 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

The US has a major suicide problem, around 50,000 people every year, and 60% of these suicides are gun suicides. The number one risk factor for completed suicide is not depression or anxiety or addiction….it’s access to means, and it turns out that it’s actually not that easy to impulsively kill yourself, unless you have ready access to a gun. 

We are finally starting to talk about ways to keep guns out of the hands of potentially suicidal people, and a concrete step in that direction is something called Donna’s Law— a program where people can voluntarily be put on a no-sell list during times of psychological crisis or instability.  Donna’s Law is named after Donna Nathan, who impulsively bought a handgun in 2018 in New Orleans and shot herself during a period of psychiatric crisis.  There were no barriers in place, no waiting period or no-sell list...Donna found easy access to means and paid the ultimate price.

We first hear the voice of Katrina Brees, Donna’s daughter. Katrina tells us more about who Donna was, how she lived and how she died. After we hear from Katrina, Dr. H leads a discussion with two prominent Colorado voices for both Donna’s law in particular and suicide prevention in general— Dr. Dave Iverson is a Denver-based psychiatrist, a board member of Colorado Ceasefire, and lifelong advocate for society’s most vulnerable folks, including those on the streets or in the justice system… also Ginny Mack joins the conversation, she is a Ft Collins-based psychiatric nurse practitioner, a Navy Veteran, and a longtime advocate for suicide prevention efforts on the state and local level. 

Support the show! 

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

Donna's Law for Suicide Prevention

https://www.donnaslaw.com/

Donna's Law for Colorado

https://www.donnaslawforco.com/

Colorado listeners who would like to get involved in the awareness campaign for Donna's Law, please email:

[email protected]

Golden Gate suicide study

https://www.goldengate.org/assets/1/6/suicide-deterrent-seiden-study.pdf

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 explores how we love, how we grieve, and how we eventually find some sort of equilibrium thereafter. This episode is a heartbreaking, yet beautiful story by Colorado-based somatic therapist Darci Meyers about her journey through multiple losses, grief, and ongoing recovery.

Support the show! 

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

Darci Meyers

http://www.darcimeyers.com/

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