Unhinged

Unhinged Episode #040: The Road To Now

by Ed 1 Comment
Unhinged Episode #040: The Road To Now

This is our 40th episode, and to celebrate this milestone, we’ve compiled the best clips from our first 40 shows, starting with our very first show in March of 2016, all the way to right now. Hear about Doug’s history with Deep Brain Stimulation and how the results have been both erratic and miraculous. We also play clips from our special guests over the past 40 shows, including Nurit Adler, Matt Moloney, Murray Goldsmith, and Mitchell Drew.

Over the past year, Unhinged has covered Doug’s many remissions and relapses. One of our most talked about shows was episode #18, Relapse Part 2: The Call. It illustrates the darkness and desperation one can reach when consumed by the disease. On the upswing, we also cover much happier topics, including funny hypnosis stories, the Mandela Effect, and Doug’s current record-breaking remission.

Tip for new listeners: This is a good episode to get up to speed quickly. Just be sure to go back and listen to the full shows to get much deeper into the subject matter!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:51 — 100.4MB)

Unhinged Episode #035: Tabula Rasa

by Ed 0 Comments
Unhinged Episode #035: Tabula Rasa

In the first Unhinged episode of 2017, we discuss an interesting phenomenon called the Mandela Effect. Think your memory is accurate? Think again. The Mandela Effect is when large groups of people all share the same false memory, typically a memory that can be easily confused or distorted by similar or related memories. In psychology, this is called confabulation. They explain this concept in detail in the 80’s film Shazaam, where Sinbad plays a genie. Remember that movie?

Since it’s a new year, we all tend to make our yearly New Year’s Resolutions. Are these resolutions destined to fail? It depends on how you think of them. We talk about setting life goals and how the new year is a great blank slate, or “tabula rasa”, to begin a conscious change in behavior that can help one achieve his goals.

Finally, we get into Doug’s current and very positive mental state. His DBS continues to work its magic, coupled with weekly social interactions as a peer support worker at the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario. Not only is he getting out and interacting with people, but he’s actually helping other sufferers. His 47 years of life experience living with this disease has essentially created an expert in peer support. Go Doug!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:41 — 120.6MB)

Show resources:

Unhinged Episode #034: Coping and Hoping

by Ed 0 Comments
Unhinged Episode #034: Coping and Hoping

In our final show of 2016, we begin with a quick recap of the past year’s episodes, covering how Doug’s mood has fluctuated throughout. Luckily, we’re ending the year on a high note with Doug feeling some relief and successfully starting on his new path as a peer support worker.

We then move on to discussing the holiday season and all its trials for those who suffer. There are many triggers this time of year that can lead to worsening depression and anxiety. We list several and offer up some possible coping mechanisms for each. From rearranging your furniture, to avoiding crowds, we provide some easy to follow suggestions that can help alleviate the holiday stress.

It’s all about avoiding the negative, embracing the positive, and changing routines.

Happy Christmahannukwanzadan! We’ll see you next year!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:04:04 — 146.6MB)

Unhinged Episode #033: Don’t be SAD

by Ed 0 Comments
Unhinged Episode #033: Don’t be SAD

After a three-week hiatus, we’re back just in time for the holiday season! These past three weeks have been very dark for Doug, but he’s finally emerging from the shadows. With another tweak to his DBS settings, he has seen a shift from severe to moderate, which is definitely the direction he needs to go.

We start this episode with an update on his mood, and also talking about the successful GoFundMe campaign I started for Doug that raised nearly $2,500 (THANK YOU!). The good news continues with Doug’s acceptance into the peer support program for the Mood Disorder Association of Ontario.

Next, we discuss Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), which is also known as winter depression, winter blues, or seasonal depression. As the holiday season arrives, SAD cases rise due to being exposed to less sunlight as the mornings start later and evening begins earlier during the winter season. And finally, we talk about some of the treatments available for SAD sufferers.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:11:47 — 164.3MB)

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Symptoms, Causes & Treatment Procedures

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Symptoms, Causes & Treatment Procedures

Show resources:

Quick Update and Next Week’s Show

by Ed 0 Comments
Quick Update and Next Week’s Show

Hey there, Unhinged listeners! Just wanted to post a quick update on what’s been going on. As you know, we have taken a break from the show for the last three weeks so that Doug could focus on feeling better. During that time, I started a GoFundMe campaign to help alleviate his financial stress, and that generated a couple of bits of good news. One, the genuine outpouring of love and support from our listeners, friends, and family has been nothing short of amazing! And two, GoFundMe selected our campaign as one out of 100 that received an extra $1,000 directly from GoFundMe on #GivingTuesday!

On top of that, Doug has been accepted as a peer support volunteer for the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario after a lengthy interviewing process (yay!). All these things put together has generated very positive vibes that I have to believe has helped Doug during these past three weeks.

Today was the first day with some slight relief, and after some discussion, we have decided to record a new episode of Unhinged for next week! With the holidays coming up, we know it’s a very difficult time for many, so we would like to do our first holiday episode. Our intention is to be able to record this episode some time this week, and put it out next Tuesday. That’s the current plan if Doug’s mood stabilizes or improves. We will do our best and will keep you posted if things change!

-Ed

GoFundMe’s #GoBeyondGiving Gives $1,000

by Ed 0 Comments

This is amazing. As you saw from my previous post just eight days ago, I started a GoFundMe campaign called “Saving Doug”. This is an effort to help Doug with basic living expenses since he is on disability and living under the poverty line. Every month, he runs out of his disability money and can go days without eating. This, of course, does not help with his depression.

Well, we had an outpouring of donations from friends, family, and listeners! This morning we reached 50% of our goal, all in just a week’s time. But just as I was celebrating reaching this milestone, GoFundMe took it to a whole other level…
gfm-1000
Our campaign was chosen as one of 100 campaigns (tagged with #GoBeyondGiving) that GoFundMe felt was inspiring or touching, and on #GivingTuesday (today), they donated $1,000 to our campaign! I just stared at the donation notification for what seemed like minutes before I was able to fully grasp the fact that we were selected.

So just a huge shout out to everyone who donated (listeners, friends, and family), and a special shout out to GoFundMe for recognizing Doug’s struggles and for the generous donation!

Unhinged Episode #032: Where’s Hope?

by Ed 2 Comments
Unhinged Episode #032: Where’s Hope?

It’s been an extremely tough couple of weeks. We didn’t end up doing a show last week, partially due to scheduling conflicts, but also because Doug has fallen into a very deep depression and has yet to climb out of it. His mood has gotten progressively worse, to the point where he is now teetering on the edge of hopelessness.

This episode is a phone conversation we had after two weeks of very little communication. It is Doug explaining how he is feeling and how hard it is for him to stay in the game and fight. Doing the podcast has been therapeutic in many ways, but it also adds a level of stress in Doug’s life, and when he’s in such a down mood, any little stressor in unhealthy for him. On that note, we decided to take a short/temporary break from the podcast until Doug feels a bit better. We’ll try to keep posting relevant stories on our site or on Facebook, but more importantly, Doug needs this time to regroup and heal.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:36 — 99.8MB)

Unhinged Episode #031: Peer Through The Darkness

by Ed 0 Comments
Unhinged Episode #031: Peer Through The Darkness

The importance of a solid support network is typically underrated, but is tantamount to the well-being of someone with depression, anxiety, or any other mental health issue. Family and friends that see through the stigma and understand that it’s a disease can be a very important pillar in the support system of sufferers.

Perhaps just as important is peer support. Real peer support comes from someone who has fought their own demons and understands the anguish on an intimate level. They are trained in how to talk to and comfort sufferers, and can relate to them on a more personal level. There’s an instant level of trust with someone who has been there before, and that can open up the conversation and act as therapy.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:54 — 93.7MB)

NOTE: We had some technical/network issues with Skype during the show, so the sound quality is not as good as usual. We apologize for that and did our best to clean up the audio during editing.

Unhinged Episode #025: Carpe Diem

by Ed 0 Comments
Unhinged Episode #025: Carpe Diem

In this episode we continue discussing Doug’s progress and how the MEG brain imaging has helped dial in his current DBS settings, which seem to be holding so far. Doug goes into a bit of detail about the differences between the types of brain imaging currently available and their specific uses.

We also talk about Dr. Harry Frederick Harlow’s emotional experiments with rhesus monkeys, the ethical concerns surrounding his methods, and what we learned from his results. Also, we bring up Robin Williams again and discuss a few more details about his mental illness, and the similarities to Doug’s intractable depression.

Lastly, we talk about how we need to seize the day and appreciate everything we have right now and not stress out about what we cannot control. As Doug is improving, he is seeing the world through new eyes, hungry for everything positive the world has to offer.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:24 — 136.0MB)

Unhinged Episode #021: Fear

by Ed 1 Comment
Unhinged Episode #021: Fear

Last episode, we discussed how Doug was unable to join us due to his off-the-charts anxiety. This past week, his anxiety has continued like a roller coaster. Unfortunately, his disease is again keeping him from participating. We chatted a few days ago and he told me that the past week has felt more like years. Having been in what’s essentially a weeks long panic attack, he said he’s starting to wonder if anxiety is more than just a side effect of the DBS. What if it’s more of a base aspect of his personality, or at the very least a co-symptom of his mental illness? Is the anxiety caused by the depression, or is the depression caused by the anxiety?

This is just a quick update episode, so it’s very short. We’re hoping to do a full, proper show next week if Doug’s disease allows it. Thank you for understanding.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:42 — 8.5MB)