YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

I wanted to say how much I appreciated Rama's conversation. She was so open and honest about her experiences and offered real insights into the confusion of being a kid and being put in adult situations without the ability to respond with adult perspectives. It was wonderful to hear her say, "I...

I found this episode very helpful. It has inspired me to practice meditation. I use the timer on my iPhone to set 20 minutes. I don't use a fancy technique, I simply discipline my mind to count each breath from 10 to 1 over and over. It isn't a mantra, but it does focus my mind. If I go off track an...

I am so sorry you are having to deal with issues arising from your husband's choices and decisions. I am a recovering addict and alcoholic and I have many family members who use drugs and alcohol to 'manage' their lives. It is normal focus on their behaviour and choices and try to control them becau...

I was moved by Terri Hartman's quiet dignity and gentle disposition. It makes sense to me that our bodies are going to reflect the real pain and suffering of childhood abuse. I'm 59 now and my stress translates into physical pain, mostly in my shoulders, middle back, lower back and hip. When I take ...

Sending support vibes! You have accomplished Herculean tasks and with an illness of your own, to boot. I have a great admiration for everything you are doing, including extricating yourself from the manipulations and head-spinning contradictions and hypocrisy of ex-bf. Well rid of him, and, no matte...

I was so creeped out by this interview. This feeling had nothing to do with Susanna Lee, whom I felt great empathy for. I thought she articulated the burden of sex work in a very thoughtful way. What bothered me was Paul's comments about being a consumer of the services of a sex worker and wishing t...

Hi Lucy, Thank you for starting this thread. I, too, have been feeling very sad about Robin Williams' passing. Part of me thinks, wow, if someone that successful can't make it work, what hope is there for the rest of us? But another part of me thinks, wow, this is what happens when we don't reach ou...

As a compassionate outsider, I want to point out that your mother's pattern of talking to you was in no way reflective of who you were or who you are today. That is where talking to a therapist can help. What you have been told, and what has been done to you, was not a reflection of what you were ca...

Wow. Is there no where safe to talk about our inner lives and allow ourselves to be vulnerable? We live in a society that stigmatizes any expression of frailty or weakness. As a society we need to take a look at the systemic and local causes of the conditions that give rise to those weaknesses. It i...

I was married to a gaslighter for 18 years. Really, really messed me up for many years. The first thing I had to do was address my own use of alcohol and drugs. If I couldn't stay clean I wasn't going to have a hope of getting clean from psychological manipulation. You need a clear head to figure ou...