*Probably not suitable for children*

Have you had anyone in your life that gets upset over small things and can be self-destructive? 

They come up with outlandish shit like blaming you because they overslept.  It's your fault because you should have woken them up!  Or, it wasn't their fault they got a DUI.  The police officer is just a jerk and was out to arrest him/her the moment they got pulled over.  Why are you taking the police officer's side?!

Sound familiar?   

Dr. Daniel Lobel, a clinical psychologist based out of New York with more than 25 years of experience is joining us to talk about Borderline Personality Disorder - BPD. 

We can easily become enablers when dealing with someone with BPD because we don't want to upset them.  Dr. Lobel explains why you're just making their condition worse and making life harder for you.   

He'll explain what Borderline Personalty is exactly, behaviors of those who have it and how to escape their tricks.  Most importantly, he'll give tips on how to handle them.

Yes!  You need to hear this!

SIDE NOTE:

Has your child ever asked you, "Mom, can I sleep over at my friends tonight or Mom, can I have dessert before dinner?" And, you say, "Let me ask your father."  Then your child says, "Well, if dad says, yes ... can I?"  How do you answer that or how SHOULD you answer that?  He'll talk about that too!   

Dr. Daniel Lobel has his own private practice and is also an assistant Clinical Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in the department of Psychiatry.  

 

 

Would love your feedback!  Email [email protected]

Crazy family stories!  We all have them! April is talking to a friend who grew up with a bipolar grandma who had major road rage. She would ram her car into people just for getting in her way! Say what? Yep! She apparently had a real mean streak in her. She also believed there were caverns in her basement even though the family tried to convince her otherwise. But, you also hear a story about her brother in law.  He recently went to prison for killing his girlfriend because she was stopping him from aligning the plants! Lord, give us strength! Just because you come from a tree of nuts... doesn’t mean you are! We can’t help who are family is... but we can help the way we process their behaviors. Hope you join me for this very interesting conversion with Tracy. She is an amazing woman in how she’s dealt with some very tough situations.  

You'll be entertained and fascinated with her story! 

Would love your feedback! Email us at [email protected]

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We're happy to be talkin' about a tough topic. Steps to get out of a depression!   

Founder of the Mental Health Hacker - Dr. Casey Delmara will explain the process that helped her  ... she calls it "Chunk It." 

Dr. Delmara or she also likes you just to call her Casey decided to get in to her line of work after being trapped in her bedroom for 3 months.  No, no one locked her in! It was her mind and thoughts that kept her there. She starting shutting herself off from the world and didn't understand what was happening.  

She says, "I didn't have a real trigger that led to my depression like most people." 

This was something she never thought or anticipated would happen to her.  She'll explain what it took to get her life back in order.  

You might not have experienced something as extreme as Casey, but what she has to say in this podcast will help you pick yourself up and get movin' and groovin' again.  And, if you're close to locking yourself out from the world then you have nothing to lose by listening to this!

Don't wait till you get to a point of a very hard return.  Learn from those who have been through a thing or two.  Let's get you back on track!  

If you're not the one experiencing the hardship, it's your loved one ... YOU ALSO NEED TO HEAR THIS! 

You can find Dr. Casey Delmara at www.mentalhealthhacker.com

Also, if you want to ask her a question ... you can call us at 720-600-4634 or email [email protected]

We encourage you to reach out to us!  We're a no judgement zone and want to help anyway we can!

 Would love your feedback! Email [email protected]

   

 

 

 

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*Language not suitable for children*

Can you imagine losing two of your loved ones to suicide? 

This episode we're introducing you to a man named Eric.  He lost his father and wife to suicide.   He had to endure that unbearable pain two separate times in his life.    

Needless to say he's had to deal with a lot of shit in his life.  He's also created a lot of shit in his life.  

Eric isn't shy about telling you he's also a recovering drug addict and alcoholic.  

But, smashed between two shit storms, he somehow pulled himself out of all that darkness and got help.   That help led him to sober up and that's when the magic started for him and the community he now serves. 

As the old saying goes, it's not what happens to you but how you handle it.  He got a handle on his life and put his efforts into creating Dr1ven Industries.

At Dr1ven Industries, they assist people to reach their full potential despite their battle with mental illness, suicidal thoughts and substance abuse. 

If you have a young loved one struggling or you're battling with something yourself ... you should check Dr1ven out. 

Eric has a huge social media following on Instagram, Tik Tok and Youtube.  The guy puts himself out there for people. 

He's talking to us about his experiences and switching off negative self-talk.  

We also made sure to ask, "how should a parent, spouse or a child help their loved one dealing with similar struggles?" 

Having been on both sides, he gives us a very real answer.  It might not be easy for you to hear!  But, it might be what you need to hear! 

 Would love your feedback! Email [email protected]

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*Language not suitable for children*

It’s terrifying to watch someone you love fade away mentally.  If you have never experienced anything like it, then consider yourself truly blessed.

If you have, then you understand the gut wrenching stress and pain that comes with it.

I (April) spent years hoping and praying that Mom would get better.  There were days I thought my prayers were answered.

I would say, “Yes!  Thank you Jesus!  I knew this day would come!”

Have you ever had that conversation with yourself?

I would think, "Finally she’s back to normal!  She has to be … she’s talking and laughing again.  She’s up cleaning and making dinner.  Thank you, God!"

Then a week or so would go by and I realized ... Nope.  That was just a good week.

I (April) grew up knowing Mom before the bipolar disorder started to take over her life.  It was confusing for me to watch her change.  Amanda grew up with Mom's illness.  

No matter what, I believe you should never give up hope.  I’m talking about hope for yourself.  Otherwise, you will quickly lose yourself in their world.

You have to do everything you can to get into a good place.  Go grab a drink with friends, workout, go see a movie and laugh.  Be selfish and go do something that makes you feel good. Just GO!

I’m not saying to leave them if you think their life is in jeopardy, but get away enough to save your own life and sanity.

In this episode, we talk about some of Mom's strange behaviors and how we maneuvered around them.   She would take a handful of pills, get in the car to run errands and crash.  One day she picked Amanda up from a friends house and seemed totally fine.  All of a sudden,  Mom passed out at the wheel going 35 mph down the road with Amanda in the passenger seat.  Amanda wasn't old enough drive. 

Our dad had no other choice, but to lock her medicine up and not allow her to drive anymore.   You might think, "that settles that."  But, not when you're dealing with our Mom.  The hell if anyone was going to tell her how to live!

I got so mad at her.  I told her, "You better hope nothing happens to our dad (My step-dad/Amanda's dad).  Because if something does, I will send you back to the funny farm faster than you can light a cigarette. "

Dealing with this kind of shit is not for sissies.  You might disagree with me, but I think it’s okay to be pissed off at them.

I don’t mean get totally ugly with them like I did Mom.  But don’t hide your frustrations. What's that going to do for you?   

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*Language not suitable for children*

Last time episode, we talked about our Grandpa who left his 6 kids and wife for his gay lover he met at a nudie beach.  The news set Mom, her siblings and our grandmother on a very unstable path.  It was a life changer for all of them. 

We spent so much time on Grandpa last episode that we wanted to come back and share stories about our Grams … who was not your typical grandma.

Not typical in that she worked in a factory, cracked dirty jokes, had a stash of playgirl magazines, rented porn on VHS tapes and didn’t cook, clean  or bake.

We thought she was the best Grams ever!

She was fun and very loving.   But, things took a little turn after she retired.  She fell into a slump.  Grams started to make those around her feel guilty when we couldn’t fulfill her needs.

Know anyone like that?

Remember the song? No one loves me, everybody hates me, I guess I’ll go eat worms and die.

Grams started to get that mentality for sure.

We share funny stories of her renting an apartment for "singles only" so she could find a man to her renting the movie, "When Harry Does Sally" instead of "When Harry Met Sally." She would do all sorts of hysterical things like ask Amanda to iron her girdle.  Grams had to iron everything including her stretchy jeans. LOL. 

But, we also talk about the times Grams and Mom started to feed off of each other.  You know that old saying - misery loves company.  Well, that was the two of them.  They slept all day.  When they weren't sleeping, they were smoking and swapping pills.  They became a mess for our family to deal with.  

How do you handle two bad eggs who happen to be the matriarch's of the family?  It wasn't easy.  But, we got through it without any blood shed.  

It was a lot of walking on egg shells though.  Sound familiar?   

Walking on egg shells gets old, doesn't it?  Especially when you're the one not doing anything wrong!

STOP LETTING THEM DO THAT TO YOU!  YOU DESERVE BETTER.  

You can't change them, but you CAN change you.     

 

  

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*Language not suitable for children*

Last week, we shared that we grew up with a Mom who suffered from Bipolar Disorder. In the 80’s when we were growing up, mental illness wasn’t discussed.  

Thankfully times have changed. More of you feel comfortable saying you suffer from a mental illness. And, many of you living with them can openly talk about your struggles too. 

It's no longer a deep dark secret. Or, it doesn't have to be.  Please, talk about it with someone.

This week, we're discussing one of the two freaky deaky people responsible for bringing our Mom into this world - our Grandfather.

Speaking of secrets, Mom had to keep a deep dark one for a long time.  If she revealed it, it would tear her family apart.

When she was a high school freshman, she came home to find her father in bed with one of her male classmates. In the same bed he shared with our grandma and created six kids in.  Yes, the kid was underage.

Her father asked her no to tell anyone, so she didn't. At least, not right away.  

Some time after that, he left the family for his lover that he met at a nudist beach.  He met Jack, while vacationing with the family. Yes, our grandfather took his family to a nudie beach for vacation. WTF! Who does that?

As you can imagine, there's so much more packed into this podcast! What did our grandma do?  She was left to raise six kids on her own. 

You would think that would have been a time that our Mom would have started popping pills. There was a total shit storm circling around her.  Her family was torn apart. She was at a vulnerable age.  She became pregnant with me (April) and had to drop out of high school.  My father became abusive to her. They were teenagers. 

(Amanda and I have different dads.) 

But, she didn't break. 

GOD - THE UNIVERSE - whatever you call it gives you super powers when you need it most!  

That is when she found her strength.  What are you doing to find your strength?  If she could do it, so can you. 

Whenever I think I'm down and out, I think of Mom during that time.  She didn't have any money, a high school education  or support. Everyone else was dealing with the own messes. But, she was able to weather that shit storm.    

Would love your feedback! Email [email protected]

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*Language not suitable for children*

This is where you’re going to learn why I decided to create this podcast with my sister, Amanda.  Yep, all the good, ugly and straight up strange reasons. 

I want to get into a little our family background.

Amanda and I have the same mother, but different biological fathers.  I'm 10 years older than her.  Mom had me at 15 and half years-old. And, about a year later she had my brother. Mom’s family had a whole mess of their own problems.  They ran off to deal with those themselves, so  she didn’t have any help.

We'll get more into their messes as these podcasts progress. 

But, she was able to make it on her own by dropping out of school and getting a job at a truck stop cleaning toilets.  This was back in the 70’s.  Even with the weight of the world on her shoulders, she was a fun and loving person. I say that because while she was surviving and barely old enough to work, she was also getting the shit kicked out her by MY biological dad.

Even through all of that, I grew up seeing her smile. She beamed. She had vibrant energy.  

I feel blessed because I got to experience a hard working and joyful Mom.  I’m breezing over a lot right now.  You'll have to listen to hear all the nitty gritty.

Mom ended up marrying an amazing man who would do anything for her, that’s Amanda’s dad.

But, about the time Amanda turned 5 years-old, Mom started to change.   She became depressed.  She wouldn’t shower or get off the couch for days.  That was huge because she was the kind of woman who made sure her hair was curled and makeup on everyday! 

She started taking a shit ton of medication.  

Seeing her change was very confusing for me. I didn’t understand it. Amanda grew up only knowing her dark side.  

Now, I don’t want you to think this is going to be all doom and gloom. We have some funny and yes, silly stories that hopefully will enlighten you and make you realize YOU'RE NOT ALONE trying navigate their ups and downs.

Would love your feedback. Email us at [email protected] 

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This is the first season of - Of Course, They Make Me Crazy!  The first two episodes have been launched at the same time. A new episode will dropped every two weeks on the first and third Tuesday of each month.  You can follow us on instagram @ofcoursetheymakemecrazy to get sneak peeks into what is coming up.  We would just love to connect with you there too! 

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