Back from the Abyss: Psychiatry in Stories

Step inside Dr. H's office to eavesdrop on a therapy session with his patient Jasmine (from the Delta Flight Attendant episode in season 1). This session explores an extremely painful but ultimately transformative relationship that Jasmine had with a much older man just prior to starting therapy. Relationships are human growth machines, and Dr. H and Jasmine unpack what she learned about idealization, her defaulting to black/white thinking, setting boundaries, what it means to be a "friend", and assigning guilt and blame/shame.
Dr. H/ Back from the Abyss
https://www.craigheacockmd.com

What's the special sauce of psychological and psychiatric treatment? How do we change, particularly in relationship with others?  Here Dr. Hillary McBride, a psychotherapist, researcher, author, and podcast host (Other People's Problems) opens up about the details of her years of psychiatric treatment, what worked (often surprising!), what did not, and how she had to leave home to find a home in herself.

Dr. Hillary McBride
https://hillarylmcbride.com

Hillary's new book-- The Wisdom of Your Body
https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Your-Body-Wholeness-Connection/dp/1587435527/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=hillary+mcbride&qid=1617029987&sr=8-2

BFTA
https://www.craigheacockmd.com

Craig sits down with LA-based Cuban American storyteller, author, BFTA super-advisor, and longtime dear friend Antonio Sacre to explore the art and power of storytelling, their personal abyss moments, friendship and vulnerability, and their shared love of air conditioning.
Antonio Sacre
https://www.antoniosacre.com
BFTA
https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/

Dr. H finds a trove of patient letters from the last 15 years and shares three of the most poignant, using each as a springboard for lessons learned.
Dr. H and BFTA
https://www.craigheacockmd.com

Expectation, set, setting, dosage, and route of administration provide the context and scaffolding for psychoactive drugs. An IV morphine drip can make unbearable pain completely manageable, while IV heroin, which is immediately converted to morphine once it crosses the blood brain barrier, destroys tens of thousands of lives a year. A benzodiazepine such as lorazepam, when taken orally at sensible doses, can stop a panic attack in its tracks, yet snorting or injecting benzodiazepines, or mixing them with alcohol, can lead to complete blackout and terrible consequences. Taking psilocybin mushrooms with friends out in nature vs at night alone in the darkened streets of an unfamiliar city vs with a trained trauma therapist in a healing setting—- the resulting risks, benefits, and experiences are mind-blowingly different.

In today’s story we hear Graham’s long and winding road with various drugs and alcohol in the context of childhood trauma and bipolar disorder, with a particular emphasis on his complicated relationship with ketamine. For years, he used and abused massive quantities of ketamine, yet now he has transitioned to using ketamine in a therapeutic context with Dr. H, and the experience of ketamine, the consequences, and the end results are just shockingly different....all because of expectation, set, setting, dosage, and manner of administration.
Audio note: Graham's emotional support dog makes some intermittent appearances on his microphone
BFTA on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/backfromtheabysspodcast/
BFTA/ Dr. H
https://www.craigheacockmd.com/podcast-page/