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What if a childhood built on criticism and distance teaches your nervous system to disappear? We sit with author and advocate Blair Sorell to uncover how schizoid personality disorder can form as a learned defense—and how clarity, therapy, and the right environment can turn fog into focus. Blair opens up about growing up between a terminally ill mother and an absent father, the slow drift from daydreaming to dysfunction, and the way school and work punish traits that once kept a child safe. Her story shows why labels can liberate when they finally explain the pain.

We dive into the hidden costs of misreading SPD: missed promotions, HR write-ups, social dread, and in the worst cases, homelessness when family scaffolding falls away. Blair shares practical, compassionate strategies—remote-friendly roles, life-skills scaffolding, and stepwise social exposure—that give room to recover without forcing anyone into a mold. She also draws a bright line between schizoid personality and schizophrenia, removing stigma by restoring nuance. The goal isn’t to make every introvert outgoing; it’s to make every person safe, housed, and healthy.

Threaded through it all is classic rock as an emotional lifeline. The Doors, Hendrix, and Lennon became proxies for feelings Blair couldn’t voice, proof that art can carry what speech can’t. That soundtrack helped her write a memoir during the pandemic, one chapter at a time, transforming isolation into momentum and memory into meaning. If you’ve ever been called lazy when you were really overwhelmed, or if you’re parenting a child who’s starting to pull away, this conversation offers language, tools, and hope.

If this resonates, follow and share the show, leave a review so others can find it, and tell us: what song says what you can’t say yet?

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