Today I’m talking with my guest, Keith, about a time in his life not so long ago, when shit went totally off the rails. He had a psychotic break and a set of experiences that blew up his marriage, his relationship with his kid, his job. Basically, nothing’s the same for him since that experience.
Major Themes: 
Mental health, behavioral challenges, bi-polar disorder, psychosis, family, breakups, custody and relationship with kids, drug and alcohol use and treatment, harm reduction approaches vs. abstinence-based treatment, a dive into why I started this podcast, finding strength in friends and rebuilding after a crisis, forgiving ourselves for mistakes and harm we’ve caused.
Mental Health and Drug/Alcohol Resources:
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline:
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
If you are looking for a licensed therapist or a registered therapy intern, the Psychology Today therapist listings in your area are usually a pretty helpful place to start:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists
A national listing of community mental health clinics:
https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/topics/certified-community-behavioral-health-clinics/
SMART Recovery program (SMART stands for Self-Management and Recovery Training.)
https://www.smartrecovery.org/about-us/
Center for Harm Reduction Therapy (Bay Area only)
https://harmreductiontherapy.org/
Moderation Management
https://www.moderation.org/
AA – Alcoholics Anonymous
https://www.aa.org/
NA – Narcotics Anonymous
https://www.na.org/
References:
The social research I was referring to about how the beginnings and ends of experiences register more intensely than the middles of experiences is discussed this episode of the Hidden Brain podcast from WNYC:
https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=592986190
Bi-polar disorder overview from NAMI – the National Alliance on Mental Illness:
https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions/Bipolar-Disorder/Overview
What is psychosis, also from NAMI:
https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions/Early-Psychosis-and-Psychosis/Overview
Seroquel – the anti-psychotic medication we referred to that might have helped Keith sleep:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quetiapine
AA meeting in Antarctica? Yes! Sometimes twice a week during the summer season, as told to me word of mouth by a friend of mine who works there seasonally. If you’re ever on The Ice and looking for an AA meeting, stop by Chapel of the Snows!
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/chapel-of-the-snows
The Hawthorne Effect
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3969247/