We often think of PTSD as the result of dramatic, one off events, like an assault or car accident. But for many people, trauma is something they lived with every day growing up. In her bestselling book, What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma Stephanie Foo documents her process of healing from an abusive childhood. She looks at her own past through the lens of investigative journalism, drawing on her skills as former radio producer on shows like This American Life and Snap Judgement. 

Stephanie and I spoke about the wildly positive reception of her book, what it was like to approach the topics of generational trauma and abuse in the Asian American community, and parenting as a person with complex trauma. 

On the first page of Kate Richard’s memoir, she tries to cut off her own arm. Kate is a deeply thoughtful writer, beautiful prose stylist and a successful medical researcher living in Melbourne, Australia. From her memoir’s harrowing beginning unspools a brilliant, lyrical story of surviving severe. Madness: a memoir is full of vividly surreal tales of living through the depths of delusion, paranoia, psychosis and depression over the 15 years it took for her to get effective treatment for her Bipolar II disorder. 

Learn more about Kate and her books:

https://www.penguin.com.au/authors/kate-richards

Self Conscious Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/selfconsciouspod/

Awais Aftab is a psychiatrist, scholar and the author of the Substack newsletter Psychiatry at the Margins, where he explores philosophical and scientific debates in psychiatry today. In our interview, we discuss the ongoing controversies within and outside of psychiatry around the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the “bible” of diagnosis. Awais guided me through the fascinating history of the DSM, why so many psychiatrists today hate it, and what the future looks like for diagnosis. 

Awais Substack:

psychiatrymargins.com

Newsletters mentioned in the episode:

psychiatrymargins.com/p/diagnosis-as-self-understanding-and

psychiatrymargins.com/p/are-critiques-of-dsmicd-as-devastating

psychiatrymargins.com/p/psychopathology-exhaustion-and-identity/

Self Conscious Instagram:

instagram.com/selfconsciouspod/

Are we living through a time of mass psychosis? With misinformation running rampant in our media and the uncovering of  mass surveillance by governments and tech companies, the line between being paranoid and appropriately suspicious is less clear than ever. Can paranoia ever be a gift, or is it always destructive? In his new collection of essays, Mean Boys, Geoffrey Mak writes about what it's like to experience our era of post-truth politics and culture while living with psychosis. He also delves into nightlife, addiction, queerness, growing up in a  Chinese immigrant family, Christianity, and much more.

Geoff's book, Mean Boys: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/mean-boys-9781635577952/

Geoff's New Yorker piece: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/the-unholy-son

Self Conscious Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/selfconsciouspod/

Self Conscious Patreon: patreon.com/SelfConsciousPod

Indigenous Canadian artist Christopher Grant was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in his early 20s after surviving years of untreated symptoms. He says that only in the last year has an effective regimen of medication allowed him to find a more balanced life. Through all these years of struggle, Chris’ practice of drawing intricate, psychedelic art helped him cope with his hallucinations and better understand himself. It was through his art that Chris eventually connected with a large online audience, and realized his experience was more common than he thought. Today, we talk to Chris about his story and turning a disease he first saw as a death sentence into something that connected him with people around the world. 

You can find Chris’ art here: 

https://www.instagram.com/xoradmagical/

https://www.tiktok.com/@xoradmagical

Self Conscious has a Patreon where you can subscribe to hear bonus episodes.

patreon.com/SelfConsciousPod

Produced and edited by Sophie Weiner

Music and logo by Tom Hawking