Mental Illness and Me

Seven years ago this month, Allan’s father tragically died when a driver under the influence of an illegal substance hit his car head on. This traumatic experience triggered intense depression and anxiety in Allan that he never before experienced. Allan and his wife Kattie join me on Monday’s episode to talk about his battle with situational depression and the effect trauma and grief can have on mental health. They also offer beautiful insight on how to better support those who are grieving.

Brielle works as a doula helping women through birth and post partum. She started noticing symptoms of depression years ago in college and began treatment. After an abusive relationship relationship, she was surprised when her therapist diagnosed her with PTSD. She shares her story with us on Mental Illness and Me.

Stephen considers himself, first and foremost, a father. He also struggles with Bipolar 2 Disorder and ADD. When his young daughter was diagnosed with cancer in 2018, he faced an intense physical, emotional, and mental battle. Listen to his story where he describes how his daughter’s courage, his faith, and barbershop music helped him find hope and happiness in the midst of the greatest trial of his life.

Kristen always knew she wanted to be a mom. After struggling to get pregnant, she and her husband finally got the happy news that they were expecting twins! Anxiety and depression, however, robbed her of much of the joy she hoped to experience through pregnancy and life postpartum.

Paul Peterson, MSW, started working as a therapist in 1998. He was intrigued by OCD from the beginning of his career, and it became more personal to him when several family members were diagnosed. In 2008, he received training from the National OCD foundation that changed the path of his career. In 2015, he officially established the OCD and Anxiety Treatment Center with 100 employees. It has changed countless lives dramatically and given hope to hundreds of OCD sufferers.

Postpartum depression is a phrase commonly understood; antenatal depression, however, is much less recognized. Codee didn’t experience mental illness until it came on with a vengeance during her first pregnancy. She suffered from severe anxiety and panic and desperately sought treatment safe for pregnancy. Codee shares her story with us on this episode. You can listen to her own podcast about parenthood on partumthemess.com.

As a young adult, Lea was diagnosed with PTSD, Bipolar 1, and severe anxiety. For years, she took medication and went to therapy while simultaneously suffering from brutal headaches and other strange side-effects. After a brain scan that should have been ordered 20 years earlier, the doctors discovered she had two meningiomas growing around her spine and brain. Lea joined us on Mental Illness and Me while in recovery from her fifth brain surgery and discussed how she copes with her mental illnesses while also dealing with two continuously growing brain tumors.

Steve discusses how anxiety and depression have affected his self-esteem, his family, and more; yet, he also describes how he found his “core” through his music community.

Jeremy and his wife, Christina, talk about his battle with anxiety and how they’ve learned to confront it in their relationship.