Molly McCann: Therapy, combat sports, and menstrual cycles

Explicit content warning

05/27/24 • 63 min

2 Listeners

Being deep in the middle of therapy can be draining. Ultimate Fighting Championship athlete Molly McCann has been working hard to understand her more toxic traits and behaviours, and her vulnerability has made her a stronger fighter.

In this chat with Fearne, Molly talks about how she’s learnt not to fear failure, and how to overcome self-sabotage, as well as the very physical way her trauma has been released. She explains how she knew she wanted to break her family’s pattern of addiction too.

Fearne and Molly also chat about the movement towards female athletes taking their menstrual cycle into consideration during training, and the fickleness of fandom – how we put people on a pedestal only to tear them down again. How can we learn to seek internal rather than external validation?

Molly McCann returns to the Octagon for UFC® 304: Edwards vs Muhammad 2. Tickets for UFC® 304 go on sale at 10am BST on Friday, 7th June via Ticketmaster.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Molly McCann returns to the Octagon for UFC® 304: Edwards vs Muhammad 2. Tickets for UFC® 304 go on sale at 10am BST on Friday, 7th June via Ticketmaster.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Patric Gagne: Sociopaths, compulsive behaviours, and theft

Sociopathy should be understood as a spectrum disorder. It’s a disorder that affects roughly 5% of the population – similar to the number of people who have depression or anxiety. Patric Gagne is a sociopath.

In this chat with Fearne, Patric explains the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath. Sociopaths have access to inherent emotions like sadness and happiness, but struggle with learned social emotions like remorse, guilt, empathy, and love. There’s also a huge feeling of apathy for Patric, which in the past led her to anti-social behaviours like stealing cars and breaking into houses.

Fearne also points out the benefits of not caring what others think of you; while she people pleases a lot, she can see the freedom in having a lack of a filter. They chat about how to function in a relationship when you have to communicate any kind of mental disorder or illness too.

Patric’s memoir, Sociopath, is this month’s Happy Place Book Club read. Come and be part of the Book Club discussions on Instagram @happyplacebookclub.

Sociopath is out now.

Listen to Book Club Meets: Jo Cheetham

Listen to Book Club Meets: Jennie Godfrey

Thanks to Bluebird (an imprint of Pan Macmillan) for the Sociopath audiobook extract.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Ashley John-Baptiste: Rejection, aspirations, and a lack of hugs

How big do you let yourself dream? BBC broadcaster Ashley John-Baptise grew up in care, and knows all too well that love can help cultivate aspiration.

In this chat with Fearne, Ashley talks through his childhood, from being bounced between foster parents and care homes, to ending up with a history degree from Cambridge University.

He explains how he became a colder and more detached child as protection against constant rejection. Ashley also talks about the very real impact not having access to touch and attachment to a primary care giver can have on a person’s future outcomes.

Fearne and Ashley chat about the huge influence kind and persistent adults can have over a child’s life. You don’t have to be a parent to positively impact a child; teaching, mentoring, and community work will make a huge difference to an individual, and as a result, society too...

Ashley’s memoir, Looked After, is out on June 13th.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.