Moon Unit Zappa on Family Trauma, Neglect, and Building a Self
For much of the world, Moon Unit Zappa is famous for two things: the unusual name given her by her father, iconic musician Frank Zappa, and the 1982 song “Valley Girl” where she appeared with Frank wh...
2 Sep 202451min
The Muddy Ethical Ground of AI Mental Healthcare with Dr. Jodi Halpern
It’s a supply and demand issue. With increasing numbers of people seeking help, it’s harder to get in to see a human counselor. At the same time, artificial intelligence technology is booming, leading...
26 Aug 202436min
Rainbow Kitten Surprise’s Ela Melo on Music, the Stars, Psychosis, and Reality
During the covid pandemic, Ela Melo of the acclaimed band Rainbow Kitten Surprise was staying with her parents and went out one night to look at the stars. And the stars, she felt quite certain, were ...
19 Aug 202446min
Susan Cain on Reaching a Quiet Life
Introverts around the world celebrated, quietly, when Susan Cain’s book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, became a #1 best-seller back in 2012. Her next book, Bitters...
12 Aug 202440min
Gut Health, Resilience, and What the Heck Is TMS Anyway?
The gut microbiome, that little ecosystems of bacteria and microorganisms in your body, and your mental health are more closely related than we may have thought. Dr. Aparna Church led a study that poi...
5 Aug 202441min
Mike Doughty Was Recently Hospitalized for Depression Twice. It Helped.
It was two years into a vicious cycle of depression and Mike Doughty was falling apart. He was taking more Ambien than he had been prescribed, importing huge boxes of the stuff from India, waking up t...
29 Jul 202445min
Reframing Your Memories, Even the Terrible Ones, To Help Your Mental Health
Memories are like the radiant light and heat of the sun. They’re always coming at us, inescapable. But like that radiant light and heat, memories can be harnessed and converted into a fuel that can pr...
22 Jul 202441min
Life Inside a Psych Unit and Therapy for Rock Bands
One South: Portrait of a Psych Unit is an HBO documentary about life inside an in-patient facility in Queens that specializes in helping people of college age who are in acute crisis. The filmmakers, ...
15 Jul 202446min
