Episode 311: Punk Rock, EMDR & Trauma w/Dr Stephen Dansiger

[SpookyGhost]

At 16 he was playing drums at CBGB and Max's Kansas City as the punk scene exploded. After destroying his career (Pianosaurus, King Missile) he got sober. The PsyD & MFT explains his extensive work with treating trauma victims (especially those with addictions) by using EMDR. He talks about the difficulty people have in calling what happened to them "trauma" and why the label isn't important. He shares his personal experiences and insights about bullying, Buddhism, self-sabotage, spirituality, depression and what being a "good person" means to him.

Dr. Dansiger can be found at http://www.drdansiger.com

aCheck out this new book Clinical Dharma

Follow him on Twitter @DrDansiger

This episode is sponsored by the magazine app Texture. For a 14 day free trail go to http://www.texture.com/mental

This episode is sponsored by TalkSpace. For $30 off your first month of online therapy go to http://www.TalkSpace.com/mihh and use offer code MIHH

For info on how to donate frequent flyer miles to the podcast go to http://mentalpod.com/archives/4307

To support the podcast as a monthly donor (and get rewards from Paul) go to http://www.patreon.com/mental

[FixTheWagon]

I am thinking that this Dr. Steve is the same Dr. Steve that appeared years ago on Maron's WTF podcast before he had finished school to become Dr Steve. His appearance on WTF long ago had a deep and memorable impact on me. In that interview he talked about a long and dark depression, a depression that he glossed over quickly in this interview with Paul. While talking about it with Maron, he said something that hit me like a ton of bricks and has stuck with me ever since the first time I heard it. He said something to the effect of "I could not remember the last time that I had a positive future based thought".

I felt like Dr. Steve had a lot to talk about with regards to mental illness from an experiencer's perspective, not just as a doctor in the mental illness field. I wondered if he had used medication to get through that time in his life, but, because he hardly talked about it, it was never brought up. If memory serves, I believe that during his depression, he was nearly catatonic & somehow ended up in a zen monastery where he immediately felt safe, and his mental health recovery began. I felt like Dr. Steve talking about his own experience with mental illness would've created more of a connection with the MIHH community.

I don't usually have strong opinions about how interviews could've been different, but there is a lot more to Dr Steve's story than he talked about in the ep., as someone who was deeply impacted by hearing Dr Steve's story on Maron's WTF podcast, I highly recommend listening to his WTF ep. if you ever get the chance.