!Trigger Warning!

In this week’s episode, Tamara chats with 4 lovely ladies, each who has dealt with their own mental health struggles. They each talk about their own experiences, what their illnesses looked like, what their support system or lack of support system was, and how they cope with everything that has or is happening in their lives. Some of these women have to continue to live with this for the rest of their lives, while others have found resolve. 

1. Ashley Bishop talks about being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) after being misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder (which is very common) at a very young age. She explains what BPD is; a severe mental illness with no real medication, but shared symptoms with anxiety and depression. Losing her mom, grandmother, and aunt, and being sexually assaulted, that led her to feel lost and alone. She talks about how she received her first diagnosis after trying to attempt suicide as well as the forms of therapy she's gone through. 
2. Queen Dee, from the Queen Mindset, talks about going through highs and lows in her mental health, dealing with trauma, and how that severely affected her mental health to the point where she needed to take extended time off from work as well as being diagnosed with depression and anxiety. They talk about how we’re so affected by mental health and how that can affect our work which in turn makes that hard to communicate with peers and our managers. Dee has gotten to a place where she understands how she reacts to her triggers and how these experiences have thought her to be resilient.
3. Audra Allen, a single mom of two kids speaks about her experience of getting diagnosed with Post Partum Anxiety after she had her daughter and her experience of manifesting signs of anger towards her daughter. She talks about taking a holistic approach at first, but then finally having to turn to medication. She was originally diagnosed with Post Partum Depression, which was later diagnosed as Post Partum Anxiety when she showed signs of anger. Audra talks about how it took her 4 years for her body and brain to really feel an emotional connection to her daughter and the double-edged sword feelings of not feeling like she could fully utilize the resources of a therapist without fear of them possibly wanting to take her kids away from her. 
4. Shannon Sarussi shares her story of living with chronic anxiety for years, an experience she never thought she would get out of. She talks about what anxiety felt like for her, how that was trauma that built up inside of her, and going through the trial and error of changing up her lifestyle to be in a better place today where she understands how things (like caffeine and sugar) can trigger her. She is finally in a place where she wouldn't consider herself as having anxiety. 

Check out the @atwonderpodcast Instagram page to see more on these incredible human beings!

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