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

Came here from listening to Paul on Jimmy Dore's podcast.

I'm deluded enough to think I'm not here for solutions but more out of curiosity and just wanting to support a great idea of Paul's. I've always seen the glass as half empty but have been lucky enough to have never sunk to any real dramatic depths. Pretty sure I'll have little to ever contribute but I'll be an interested lurker here and avid listener of your podcast.

One thing that may seem obvious to others, but has struck me as a new phenomenon - that you can get addicted to listening to podcasts as a legitimate means of avoiding thinking or stressing over things. You can still walk around, commute, perform many other tasks but displace your thoughts with someone else's. I notice that the more podcasts displace music in my listening choice that's an indication of the dark clouds gathering and that I need to take some steps such as exercise or meds.

Thanks Paul!

Greg

Greg,
Welcome! I'm glad you like the podcast and website idea. It makes sense to me that podcasts could be an addictive way for people to escape reality. I know that when I find something that makes me feel good, I want to run the wheels off it. Moderation doesn't come easily to me. It's such a hard balance to strike between not thinking obsessively about your life and not completely ignoring your life. Since I don't get loaded anymore, I'll know I need to express my feelings when I find myself playing too many video games. Don't get too down on yourself for listening to podcasts, on the unhealthy scale its not too bad. I encourage you to find people to open up to and find out what feelings you're trying to avoid. Mine always seem to come back to: I don't have enough, I don't do enough or I'm not enough. Hopefully you relate and feel a little less alone.

Paul