The Surgeon General of The United States, Dr. Vivek Murthy, is on a mission to amplify the importance of mental health. This week, Dr. Murthy shares his personal experience with loneliness and how he came to see healthy relationships as the foundation for emotional well-being. Drs. Murthy and McBride discuss the distinction between loneliness and isolation and the mental health toll of living through a pandemic. As the first White House official to sound the alarm on the youth mental health crisis, Dr. Murthy explains the harms of social media and our "culture of comparison” to young people today. He also shares his new framework on workplace well-being and why he remains optimistic about the future of our mental health.

President Obama called his Head Speechwriter, Jon Favreau, his “mind reader.” On this week’s episode, Jon sheds light on his own mind — specifically his phone addiction — and what he learned about his emotional health during the pandemic. The political commentator, podcast host, and new dad was forced to reckon with his everyday habits and his relationship with technology. With heartfelt honesty, Jon shares with Dr. McBride his struggle and some of the lessons learned — including the importance of human connection for our health and well-being.

Join Dr. Lucy McBride every Tuesday for a new episode of Beyond the Prescription on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you catch your podcasts. Find her at lucymcbride.com/podcast.

This week, we go BEYOND THE DESCRIPTION with Shannon Watts, the founder of the largest gun violence prevention organizations in the US:  MOMS DEMAND ACTION. 

Dr. McBride and Shannon Watts talk about the 2012 Newtown Connecticut massacre that prompted the founding of her organization, what it's like to be targeted as the face of the movement, and how it has affected her emotional health. They discuss the impact of everyday gun violence in Black America. They address the harms of active shooter drills; the false dichotomies in the debate about gun violence in America, and the relationship between mental illness and violence.

Join Dr. Lucy McBride every Tuesday for a new episode of Beyond the Prescription on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you catch your podcasts. Find her at lucymcbride.com/podcast.

This week, Dr. McBride sits down with author Caralena Peterson to discuss her new book, "The Effortless Perfection Myth", about the mental and physical health toll of the pressure college-age women put on themselves to be pretty, thin, and accomplished. They break down how exhausting it is to be anything but yourself, that love is not something that you earn, and how getting a B+ is often better than getting an A.

Join Dr. Lucy McBride every Tuesday for a new episode of Beyond the Prescription on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you catch your podcasts. Find her at lucymcbride.com/podcast.

13-time World Champion Boxer Tori Nelson is a fighter in and out of the ring. 

Raised by a single mom and her older brothers, Tori spent her childhood stuffing down her emotions and desperately searching for ways to release her pent-up anger. It sometimes landed her in trouble. That was until she found boxing. The sport catapulted her into tip-top physical shape and provided an outlet for her anger.

In this episode, Tori discusses her rough-and-tumble childhood, dust-ups with the law, and triumphant moments that propelled her into the Boxing Hall of Fame.

Join Dr. Lucy McBride every Tuesday for a new episode of Beyond the Prescription on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you catch your podcasts. Find her at lucymcbride.com/podcast.

ABC veteran journalist Gloria Riviera has told a lot of compelling stories. 

The mother of three has spent two decades reporting on hard hitting topics like underaged sex trafficking. She’s also the host of the No One is Coming to Save Us podcast, where she examines the broken American child care system. 

Now Gloria is telling her own story. It begins in 2019 with an unforeseen brain cancer diagnosis, and it’s far from over. 

In this episode of Beyond the Prescription openly discusses how past trauma “prepared” her to cope with cancer, the lessons learned during her treatment, and why she doesn’t fear death.

Join Dr. Lucy McBride every Tuesday for a new episode of Beyond the Prescription on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you catch your podcasts. Find her at lucymcbride.com/podcast

Journalist Meghan Daum has never been one to mince her words. In her books and on her podcast, The Unspeakable, she tackles some of life’s thorniest issues — from gender politics and wokeism to death and dying — with bold honesty and humor.

Megan is the queen of nuance, a crusader against absolutism, a fearless explorer of taboos. 

In this episode, Meghan gives Dr. McBride an unreserved look into some of her most vulnerable moments, including losing her mother and being placed into a medically-induced coma. Meghan’s fresh take on life, death, and health are just what the doctor ordered. 

Join Dr. Lucy McBride every Tuesday for a new episode of Beyond the Prescription on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you catch your podcasts. Find her at lucymcbride.com/podcast.

Dr. Sunita Puri  was raised in a spiritual family who taught her the significance of not only life, but of death. Now as a director of Hospice  and Palliative Medicine Fellowship, she has spent an innumerable amount of hours helping terminally-ill patients and their family members make end-of-life decisions. 

Dr. Puri outlines this intersection of her family’s spirituality and her medical career in her 2019 memoir  “That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour”. 

In episode 19 of Beyond the Prescription Dr. Puri and Dr. McBride blend their collective experiences as medical professionals into an insightful and honest discussion about the role of medicine in the quality and quantity of life. 

Join Dr. Lucy McBride every Tuesday for a new episode of Beyond the Prescription on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you catch your podcasts. Find her at lucymcbride.com/podcast.

As a seasoned school counselor and mother of three, Phyllis Fagell knows exactly how fraught — and potentially how fabulous — adolescence can be. Her latest book, Middle School Matters, equips parents with tools and guidance to navigate the tween years.

Fagell joins Dr. McBride on this episode of Beyond the Prescription with practical advice and personal anecdotes on tolerating distress and approaching the school year with optimism. 

Join Dr. Lucy McBride every Tuesday for a new episode of Beyond the Prescription on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you catch your podcasts. Find her at lucymcbride.com/podcast.

Dr. Susan Landers is living proof that caring for others starts with caring for ourselves.
After 20 years as a neonatologist (pediatric intensive care doctor), she began to feel unmotivated and exhausted. She was burned out. Raising children and caring for sick babies became unmanageable. So she rethought it all. Her memoir, “So Many Babies: My Life Balancing a Busy Medical Career & Motherhood” reminds us that behind the scenes of many professional women lies self-doubt and struggle—and that vulnerability is the birthplace of health.
In this episode, Dr. McBride and Dr. Landers discuss their shared experiences of juggling motherhood with their medical careers and their insights on preventing burnout.
Join Dr. Lucy McBride every Tuesday for a new episode of Beyond the Prescription on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you catch your podcasts. Find her at lucymcbride.com/podcast.