Episode 134

In one of my most personal conversations yet, I'm sharing a story that took years of healing before I felt ready to tell it.

During a destructive marriage, severe sleep deprivation, and undiagnosed physical health challenges, I experienced mania and psychosis and was hospitalized in psychiatric facilities. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but over time I came to question whether that diagnosis fully accounted for the trauma, stress, and physical circumstances surrounding my experiences.

I share what happened during those hospitalizations, the ways I felt unheard and mistreated, and how a psychiatric label affected my relationships, my credibility, and my ability to advocate for myself.

We also explore a question that extends far beyond mental health: What happens when we allow a label to replace our curiosity about another person?

I discuss the healing work that helped me move through shame, reconnect with my voice, and eventually transform some of my most painful experiences into a desire to help others through Hope Harbor Transitional Living.

This isn't a conversation against psychiatric care or medication. It's an invitation to consider the whole person—their history, relationships, trauma, physical health, and lived experience.

My hope is that you'll leave feeling encouraged to question limiting labels, approach others with greater compassion, and remember that someone else's interpretation of your story doesn't have to become your identity.

*Content note: Includes discussion of domestic abuse, psychiatric hospitalization, restraint, medication-related harm, and trauma.*