It's Not Just In Your Head

Harriet reviews Biden's ambitious infrastructure and jobs plan and the inclusion of various aspects of the "caring economy," including investment into childcare, healthcare, eldercare, etc. Such jobs are overwhelmingly performed by women, mostly women of color, and are notoriously underpaid. Harriet praises the arguably "revolutionary" potential of Biden's plans, then critiques them with focus on proposed timelines of implementation and lack of attention to pay disparities within "caring" fields (ie, physician to nurse aid; psychiatrist to mental health counselor). Max explains how union and worker co-op efforts to set pay ratios within workplaces and industries could address the pay disparity problem for women, and generally, but questions whether workplace democracy needs to be "made allowed" more from the top or "fought for" from the bottom.

ATTENTION! This is a Boring Dystopia/Obligatory 'don't sue us' message:  This podcast provides numerous different perspectives and criticisms of  the mental health space, however, it should not be considered medical  advice. Please consult your medical professional with regards to any  health decisions or management.

Get early access to episodes, our discord chat, exclusive content, and invites to monthly reading groups with Harriet and Max by becoming a patron at patreon.com/itsnotjustinyourhead.

Bethany Morris joins us to talk about critical and community psychology, Lacanian psychoanalysis, and borderline personality disorder. Dr. Morris is an assistant professor of psychology at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she teaches and does theoretical and qualitative research. She is a transdisciplinary scholar whose work bridges critical psychology, literature, philosophy, history, psychoanalysis, and film studies.

Get early access to episodes and extra perks at patreon.com/itsnotjustinyourhead, and email us at [email protected]

ATTENTION! This is a Boring Dystopia/Obligatory 'don't sue us' message:  This podcast provides numerous different perspectives and criticisms of  the mental health space, however, it should not be considered medical  advice. Please consult your medical professional with regards to any  health decisions or management.

Get early access to our full episode with Dr. Bethany Morris at patreon.com/itsnotjustinyourhead

Sarah and Mo join Max to talk about the many reasons why a universal childcare program in the U.S. would be good for the mental health of children, mothers, parents-generally, families, teachers, and society-at-large. Rooted in her "whole worker" labor organizing struggle in Appalachia (Southwest Virginia) as a childcare worker, Sarah realized that lack of access to quality childcare for working mothers and families, and the low pay and poor working conditions for childcare workers generally, is as much of a crisis in America as is is our lack of affordable healthcare. Mo, a trained doula, professional caseworker, and healthcare organizer, shares some of her insights about the struggles moms can face when they lack access to childcare. Mo recently ran a public good campaign and believes guaranteed childcare is something socialists need to fight for in a member-funded organization as hard as they do for universal healthcare.

ATTENTION! This is a Boring Dystopia/Obligatory 'don't sue us' message:  This podcast provides numerous different perspectives and criticisms of  the mental health space, however, it should not be considered medical  advice. Please consult your medical professional with regards to any  health decisions or management.

Listen to the full episode at patreon.com/itsnotjustinyourhead.

In this episode, Harriet gives a broad "macro" zoom out view of what's going on in America right now economically and politically. Next, she zooms in to the "micro" level to look at how our crumbling political economy is impacting people's relationships and individual mental health. Max shares his frustrations around wanting for us to be able to move from "diagnosis" to "treatment" in this context, and both therapists explore possible solutions to the economic and political problems facing all of us today.

ATTENTION! This is a Boring Dystopia/Obligatory 'don't sue us' message:  This podcast provides numerous different perspectives and criticisms of  the mental health space, however, it should not be considered medical  advice. Please consult your medical professional with regards to any  health decisions or management.

Listen to the full episode early at patreon.com/itsnotjustinyourhead

We reached out to Migration Policy Institute (MPI) to discuss their research on immigration enforcement and Latino adolescent mental health, resulting in this conversation with their director of research Randy Capps. In this episode, we ask Randy about MPI's research findings on how immigration policies impact the mental health of migrants in the US, with attention to Latino mental health. We ask Randy his thoughts on abolishing ICE, the "open borders" debate, and what kinds of immigration policies would promote the best mental health for migrants in the US.

Through email, we asked Randy about how US military and trade interventionism in South America has impacted migration patterns and he made clear he does not know much about this - if you know of researchers with knowledge in this area let us know so we can address that important aspect of US migration and mental health. Also, this episode is more policy focused than usual, and does not draw on personal narratives to help listeners understand the mental health struggles associated with fear of loved ones being deported. If you are someone with such a story and feel comfortable sharing, please email us at [email protected].

ATTENTION! This is a Boring Dystopia/Obligatory 'don't sue us' message:  This podcast provides numerous different perspectives and criticisms of  the mental health space, however, it should not be considered medical  advice. Please consult your medical professional with regards to any  health decisions or management.

Voice of Randy Capps from Migration Policy Institute. In full episode we talk about this: