Beyond Your Past Radio

Antidepressants, it seems to carry the idea of being a necessary evil for those who struggle with depression, any number of mental health challenges, including PTSD. It's not something that most would want to rely on, either temporarily or in an ongoing basis, but yet their effectiveness can bring about a world of positive difference when used properly and under the supervision of a trained professional.

I used medications to help get some struggles I had, under control, and while it took some time and several doctor visits to get the dosage, amount, correct, the results were with it. Using the medications to help regulate my mood, reaction to stress, and ability to cope did serve me for a time, and with the combined efforts of a trauma informed therapist, I was able to wean myself off of them in time, again staying in contact with a trained medical professional.

Millions of people rely on antidepressants or have used them in the past. In fact, in the United States alone, 16 million Americans experience a major depression each year, and at any given time about ten percent of the population is taking antidepressants.  The popularity of antidepressants is increasing rapidly: there are about four times as many people taking them than in the 1990s. That means as you walk down the street, through the mall, or in the office, it's likely that someone you see is on this type of medication.

There's certainly no shame in using an antidepressant, but there is a certain amount of stigma and shame that can come with relying on a medication to help us in daily life. My guest today, Dr. Wallace Mendelson joins me on the podcast to discuss the use of antidepressants and share his expertise on how and why they work.

Wallace B. Mendelson MD is a Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical Pharmacology (ret) at the University of Chicago, and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He has authored or co-authored four books and numerous scientific papers, primarily in the fields of psychopharmacology and sleep medicine.  His most recent book, The Science of Sleep (available on Amazon), shares with Understanding Antidepressants the goal of providing the scientific background of a group of disorders in a non-technical and very readable manner.

During our chat on this episode of the podcast, Dr. Mendelson and I discuss the following, surrounding the use of antidepressants:

• The use of antidepressants to help with PTSD. Which medications are actually FDA approved for PTSD, and how doctors choose between the correct ones to use with someone who's experienced trauma.
• Concerns and apprehensions about using antidepressants.
• The potential benefits of using antidepressants with therapy modalities such as CBT and Interpersonal therapy.
  • CBT - (in the area of depression) works on the idea that some kinds of thinking in which a depressed person does, can contribute to making the depression worse. Changing those beliefs, processes, and thinking patterns.
  • Interpersonal therapy - oriented to the way you interact with another person; having satisfactory relationship with others as being a critical part of ones overall mental health.
• How antidepressants actually work; what they do in the body and brain.
• The importance of taking an active role in your treatment, and educating yourself so you can better understand your progress and interactions with your medical and/or mental health professional.
• His book, Understanding Antidepressants: which outlines in a non-technical, lavishly illustrated introduction on how antidepressants affect the brain, and a more general presentation of how drugs are absorbed, distributed, and eliminated from the body.

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Childhood trauma is going to affect you into adulthood, and even with doing the hard work of healing, there will still be times of struggle. The difference is, the understanding, awareness, and skills you learn with the help of a trauma-informed professional can make all the difference in coping during those ongoing tough times.

Our chat on this episode of the podcast is with Miranda Pacchiana, MSW: I am a writer, social worker, and survivor of childhood sexual abuse. When I first disclosed to my family that my brother had abused me as a child, I thought my whole world would change. I assumed my family members would share my desire to examine what had gone wrong in our home and pursue a path toward healing together. I was sadly mistaken. In fact, their behaviors left me feeling as though the abuse didn’t really matter. Yes, they believed me–but my family members still seemed determined to brush my trauma under the rug. Over time, I came to realize they viewed me as the problem for focusing on the abuse. Not the brother who had abused me or whatever damaging experiences he had undergone as a child.

During our chat, we discuss the challenges of confronting family members who your childhood trauma, in particular:

• What is "the second wound" for trauma survivors?
• It's one thing to come to terms with a traumatic past, and as difficult as that is, revealing the details of the abuse to family members adds a whole new layer of fear, anxiety, and shame.
• The dynamic of a family who intentionally is covering up the abuse in order to hide a secret and keep the family name from being tarnished, vs the dynamic of telling family members who have no idea anything ever happened, and the risk of invalidation or minimization.
• The importance of a multi-faceted support system, and how to go about building up the support when you first begin to end your silence.
• Challenging the family's desire to keep everything a secret, and finding the courage to talk about it and not live in silence.
• Second-guessing yourself before and after you share your story.

Be sure and follow Miranda on Twitter and Facebook: @SecondWound, and on Instagram: @TheSecondWound. Learn more about her coaching, clinical work, and her story at SecondWound.com as well as her podcast "Truth and Consequences, Navigating the Aftermath of Trauma."

If you enjoy these podcasts would you consider doing 3 easy things for us?

1. Share it with one person who might find it helpful.
2. Leave a review on your favorite podcast app.
3. Follow the podcast on that same app, so you never miss an episode.

That’s it...Super Easy and it would mean the world to us.

If you want to go a step further, we have a special Thank You just for You!

All conversations and information exchanged during participation on the podcast and BeyondYourPastRadio.com are intended for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing on the podcast or posted on the above-mentioned website are supplements for or supersedes the relationship and direction of your medical or mental health providers.

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Since gratitude and forgiveness are key to healing, feeling empowered, enforcing healthy boundaries in relationships, and so many other aspects in life, we wanted to bring back a guest for a podcast episode who specializes in fostering a mindset of gratitude and understanding forgiveness.

Lisa Cybaniak has dedicated her life to helping women in particular, and survivors as a whole, to find their voice. To begin to realize that they too have the ability to reach out for help, work through their past moving from victim to survivor, and ultimately from survivor to warrior.

Lisa Cybaniak is a Motivational Speaker, Success Coach, NLP Practitioner, Author, and survivor of 10 years of child abuse. Over the last 3 years, her work has been featured on radio programs, podcasts, in magazines, and other media outlets. Her first book, Survivor to Warrior is available now on her website, LifeLikeYouMeanIt.com and on Amazon. She outlines on her website, I’ve developed three healing streams to empower you to build a life of purpose after abuse, wherever you may be on your path to recovery: Reaching Out, Victim to Survivor, and Survivor to Warrior.

During our chat with Lisa, we talk more about how we learn gratitude and embrace forgiveness:

• The lessons you learn about your life and who you are, when you begin to understand what forgiveness means to you, and how it relates to your journey.
• The differences in all types of personal and professional relationships before you learn forgiveness and after.
• How you begin to practice gratitude; the first initial steps and the progression of taking it to deeper and higher levels in your life.
• The challenge of regrouping when you're knocked down, and how gratitude and forgiveness can help.
• Learning how acceptance is key to both forgiveness and gratitude.
• How you can recognize which patterns in your life need to be addressed in order to change how you approach relationships.
• How gratitude can be a game-changer in not only healing from trauma but all aspects of life.

If you’d like to learn more about working with Lisa, her programs, upcoming new book, and her speaking engagements, just head over to LifeLikeYouMeanIt.com...and be sure and tell her, “Beyond Your Past, sent you”. 😉

You can follow her on Twitter: @LisaCybaniak , Facebook.com/lifelikeyoumeanit, and Instagram: @Life_Like_You_Mean_It

If you enjoy these podcasts would you consider doing 3 easy things for us?

1. Share it with someone who might find it helpful.
2. Leave a review on your favorite podcasting app.
3. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

That’s it...Super Easy and it would mean the world to us.

If you want to go a step further, we have a special Thank You just for You!

All conversation and information exchanged during participation on the Beyond Your Past Podcast, on BeyondYourPast.com, and BeyondYourPastRadio.com is intended for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing on these podcasts or posted on the above-mentioned websites are supplements for or supersedes the relationship and direction

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There is some debate as to which episode we are actually on, since each of us have our own separate podcasts, and to that end also number our episodes differently. So technically for me this is episode 71, however I believe it's actually episode 8 of the Megacast, but overall it's really episode 80 in the grand scheme of all podcasts of various types done to date since I started talking about my survivor journey online in this format.

So there, hopefully I haven't completely confused you, but then again I'm not sure I didn't confuse myself...there's something to be said for simplifying your life that's for sure :)

Anyways, just in case you aren't familiar with the Megacasts, you can check out past episodes here, and also on cohorts platforms as well....

To that end, the Megacast is creation of the collaborative brain powers (more or less) of Wes from AudioRising.com and Mike from MikesOpenJournal.com, and myself. I encourage you to check out and follow them online and through your favorite podcasting platform. Each of these has a tremendous message to share and an inspiring and unique way in how they go about it.

In this episode, we do a bit of catching up before diving into some more specific topics. As you'll see, we have a lot of fun and regardless of the between shows, we're able to pick up where we left off. That's the beauty of this collaboration, not only is it a mutual respect and admiration for each others work as advocates, but also the struggle and subsequent resiliency that comes with battling our own pasts.

I'm truly grateful for the opportunity to get together with these guys and share what's going on in our lives, but also to talk about the tough topics as we see them through our own eyes; the eyes of 3 dudes who have been through hell and back and continuously fight as we not only continue to heal but also hopefully validate and inspire others in the process.

To that end, we hope you enjoy this latest episode as we not only catch up and banter back and forth a bit, but also lay the ground work for what might just be our most controversial topic yet for our next espisode...

Be sure and follow Wes on Twitter @WesA1966 and Mike @Mike_Douglas_ & Open_Journal_ ...oh and don't forget to follow and subscribe to all of our shows on your favorite podcasting app!

-Matt Pappas, CLC, CPNLP

This post and podcast are for informational purposes only, and should not be used as diagnosis or treatment for any mental health or physical health illness or condition.

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Our returning guest for this week, Kelli Gettel, originally shared some of her story in episode 80, Life with Autism, CPTSD, DID, and Narcolepsy. If you haven't checked out that episode, you'll want to add it to a playlist on your favorite podcasting app and check out more of her story.

During our chat today, Kelli gives us an update on how her healing work is coming along, including:

• How she's learning to interact with her alters, and give them the voice they need.
• New memories of childhood trauma, including sexual abuse and being subjected to a pedophile ring.
• The struggles with trust issues, even with a therapist who you've been working with for a long time.
  • The challenges of opening up and sharing, trusting others to hear your story, and how you share.
• The strain that living with DID and other mental health challenges can put on a relationship.
  • The adjustments her husband is making and how much his support helps her and her family.
• Taking an active role in your healing, and educating yourself, as well as interacting with the survivor community for support.

Kelli lives in the central Pennsylvania area, with her husband and 3 children, including a 4 yr old who also was diagnosed with autism. You can contact her via email, kelligettel at gmail dot com, if you'd like to connect with her.

Please consider sharing this episode with someone who might benefit from it, and don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcasting app.

Matthew Pappas, CLC, MPNLP and Joanne Cipressi, CHt, CNLP

All conversation and information exchanged on the Beyond Your Past Podcast, on BeyondYourPast.com, and BeyondYourPastRadio.com is intended for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing on these podcasts or posted on the above-mentioned websites are supplements for or supersedes the relationship and direction of your medical or mental health providers.

Support the show