Unhinged

Our Album “Hey Brother!” Released

by Doug 0 Comments

We’ve put together an album of music we recorded over the last couple of years. We decided to let you DONATE whatever amount you want to get the full album (ten high-quality MP3s + album art). Use the donate button above or click on the ‘Get Our Album‘ button on the menu bar to take you to the album page! This donation goes directly to Doug to help him survive living below the poverty line with a disability. It’s a struggle since he cannot work due to his condition, so every little bit helps!


Front Cover

Back Cover


Unhinged -Show’s Future TBD

by Ed 1 Comment
Unhinged -Show’s Future TBD

Hello Unhinged listeners,

You may have noticed that we have not done a show in a little while. There are multiple reasons for this, some of which are serious enough to bring into question whether we will continue producing episodes regularly.

First, real life gets in the way sometimes and makes it tough to schedule recording and editing time. For example, I was out all last week traveling to the east coast to visit family. There have also been a couple of work events the past few weeks that kept me from being able to even meet with Doug, let alone produce a show.

More importantly, however, is the fact that Doug’s mood has been a bit unpredictable lately. He may be up and feeling great for several days, but then suddenly wake up in low state that takes days to recover from. His doctor tweaked the DBS settings recently, but that is not an exact science and can take months to fully kick in.

During the few up times we’ve had in the past couple of months, we decided to focus on doing something fun and low pressure together, so we recorded some music. We talked about getting a show done during these up times, but felt his mood was still delicate enough that the process of producing the show was just too much pressure. Remember, when we do a show, Doug is usually talking about himself and reliving all the negativity he has been going through. This can be a trigger that could set him back, so that’s why we did a little music therapy instead.

We know that there are listeners who have been helped by our show, and we would love to be able to keep serving the mental health community and being advocates for the removal of the stigma surrounding mental illness. But right now Doug needs to think about his own well-being. It pains us to leave our listeners hanging, but we know that when the stars all align properly again, we can continue our mission in some way.

In the meantime, we will try to continue posting interesting finds about depression, mental illness, and the brain. We might put together a show at some point, but not until we know it won’t adversely affect Doug’s recovery.

Of all the people in the world, we know that our listeners will understand where we’re coming from. We’re still in the fight… it’s just become a little more personal recently.

Thank you for understanding.

-Ed

Unhinged Episode #059: Stress – The Simple Facts

by Ed 2 Comments
Unhinged Episode #059: Stress – The Simple Facts

On our last show, we discussed how one of Doug’s family members is seriously ill, and that was one of his triggers for his mood dropping. On today’s show, we announce that the family member in question is Doug’s uncle Murray, who was our guest on Episode #10. The thing about Murray, however, is that his entire way of thinking is about changing your beliefs to change your results. His doctors call him an enigma since he’s still alive. Murray attributes this to living a stress-free life.

Murray provided for us his entire philosophy on stress, and we walk through it in this episode. Look below if you want to download some PDFs explaining his whole program. This is what he uses to live a stress-free life, and it might be helpful for those who experience a lot of anxiety and stress in their lives.

This is part one of a series. In two weeks, we will have Murray on the show to answer your questions. If you have any questions you want us to read on the show, please comment below, or reach us at https://www.facebook.com/unhingedpodcast or Twitter at @unhingedpc.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:22 — 131.3MB)

Show resources:

Unhinged Episode #058: Chillax

by Ed 1 Comment
Unhinged Episode #058: Chillax

Doug’s personal life has been challenging lately, and this has, in part, been a cause for a mood drop in the last few days. Our plan for this show was to start by playing some music, maybe work on a new intro, and record the show. Instead, Doug told me to just start recording as soon as we got online because he wanted to explain his current mood and some of the triggers behind it.

Being a person with a mental illness is a challenge on any normal day, but when some serious real life issues arise, it can be downright devastating. A close family member of Doug’s is critically ill, and this news has affected him greatly. On top of that, future plans for Doug’s career as a certified peer support counselor are now a bit foggy.

The good news is that during our conversation, it was obvious to me that he was much farther from the ledge than he has been with other recent mood drops. He was not being a complete defeatist, and he was clearly outlining what he knows he should do and not do to get better. In other words, he’s come a long way to being able to manage these drops more successfully. Talking about it with his support system also helps, so he will be reaching out to his siblings.

The bottom line is that he now knows to deal with each issue one at a time, move on to the next, and just chillax.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:47 — 150.6MB)

Unhinged Episode #057: New Show Schedule

by Ed 1 Comment
Unhinged Episode #057: New Show Schedule

Today’s show is mostly an announcement of our new plan to do a show every other week, rather than weekly. We discuss a few reasons why we decided to test out this new schedule. It should actually be good for both the quality of the show as well as our personal lives.

With Doug feeling mostly better for nearly 4 and a half months now, he’s starting to think beyond the day-to-day challenges and looking more toward his future. We will still meet every week like we normally did to record the show, but now one week will be more about hanging as friends, playing music, and working on future goals. This will also give us the opportunity to potentially improve the show quality by having more time to lineup guests, flesh out facts, or get a little deeper on some subjects.

Toward the end of the show, we included a clip of our pre-show conversation where we discussed some interesting things about anxiety, public speaking, and stagefright. Nothing too detailed, but we figured it was interesting enough to add to this episode and maybe plant a seed for a future, more in depth discussion.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:12 — 50.8MB)

Unhinged Episode #056: Spectrum With Attitude

by Ed 3 Comments
Unhinged Episode #056: Spectrum With Attitude

This week we welcome special guest Avery, a friend of the show’s, and to us. Avery and Doug share a connection through both being somewhere on the spectrum. Technically, Avery is toward the Asperger’s side. We discuss when and how each of them were first diagnosed, and how they have managed to overcome some of their challenges.

We also chat about the “gifts” that many people on the spectrum have and how it can sometimes be more of a curse. We’ve talked about Doug’s hyperfocusing abilities, and Avery has an eidetic memory and can recall facts with extreme accuracy. We did put Avery to the test trying to recall what year certain songs came out, and he was impressive!

Ultimately, people on the spectrum learn differently, so early and accurate diagnosis can help put them on the right path. Awareness is key!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:34 — 145.5MB)

Show resources:

Unhinged Episode #055: Perspective

by Ed 1 Comment
Unhinged Episode #055: Perspective

On this week’s episode, we discuss how important perspective is to live a positive life. Doug has been realizing how the little positive things in life make a big difference if you stop to appreciate them. Focusing on the positives, no matter how small, helps push out the negatives.

Doug also brings up whether he should ask his brother and sister why they did not visit him during his brain surgery in 2012. During that time, he was estranged from his family, partially due to a lack of understanding on their part about the disease, and partially because of how deep a depression he was going through then. With Doug’s newly found positive perspective, and his family coming around to what mental illness is all about, he feels it might be the right time to find out what was going through their minds during that time, with no judgment on his part. They are different people now who are part of Doug’s support system, and the past is “water under the bridge”. He plans to talk about it with them soon.

Quick note: This episode opens with a short guitar jam that Doug put together with his new Fender rig. It’s simply Doug letting loose and experimenting, which shows how far he’s come lately. Here’s to hope in 2018!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:16 — 99.1MB)

Unhinged Episode #054: Open Your Presence

by Ed 3 Comments
Unhinged Episode #054: Open Your Presence

In our first episode of 2018, we start with a short and fun guitar jam, which highlights the mood for the new year. Doug is feeling much better, and after receiving the love and generosity from some of our friends and listeners, he’s entering the new year on a wave of positivity.

The bulk of this episode was recorded on January 2nd, which happened to be my birthday. Doug contacted me and said he had some things to say that should be recorded for the show, so I went ahead and recorded our conversation. For Christmas, I got Doug a Fender Squier guitar and a Fender amp. His acoustic guitar, though a beautiful instrument, was not totally filling his void for musical expression, and his last electric guitar had to be sold last year for financial reasons (plus it ended up not being the guitar he thought it would be anyway). In any case, getting a Fender back in his hands was enough to trigger a positive psychological change.

We mostly talk about music and guitars in this episode, but the underlying tone is one of hope. Doug talks about self-care and how to try to stay positive by surrounding yourself with a strong support system.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:05 — 66.6MB)

Unhinged Addendum to #053: Meeting Your Monster

by Ed 0 Comments
Unhinged Addendum to #053: Meeting Your Monster

Our last episode, Episode #53: Hey Brother, was a powerful one for Doug. His mood was pretty low when we started recording, but by the end of the show, his mood had improved greatly, especially after a conversation he had with his sister Laurie. After hearing that episode back, he got to hear what he sounds like when his mood is very low, and meeting his monster directly led to a breakthrough.

In this addendum to that episode, we wanted to end the year with a positive note about what we have learned about psychology, neurology, and how each plays a part in your mental well-being. Everything Doug said in episode #53 was coming from a place of cognitive distortion. This is the monster that blocks out the reasoning parts of the brain and is a relentless beast of negativity.

Confronting that monster from a different, more positive perspective made Doug realize how closed-minded and stubborn that beast can be. Seeing how his mood improved so quickly after social interactions also brings to light how looking outside of yourself in trying times can help bring back positivity and hope.

This is a short 20 minute discussion that tries to make sense of all this, and, more importantly, gives us much renewed hope for a more positive and happy 2018!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:42 — 47.4MB)