Beyond Well With Sheila Hamilton

Robert Kolker is the author of Lost Girls, a New York Times Best-seller. His new book, Hidden Valley Road, is an Oprah Book Club pick and a scrupulously researched accounting of the Galvin family, a Colorado Springs family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia. The family became subjects of researchers investigating the genetic origin of schizophrenia. 

The Covid-19 Pandemic has had a severe impact on mental health. More than 260,000 people have been impacted by anxiety and depression. In a volunteer survey, sixty percent of people report mental distress due to concerns about contracting the virus, economic stress, and the pressures of quarantine.    Now is the time to seek help--but how do you find the right practitioner? This episode answers all of your questions.

Dr. Jim Polo has worked as a general physician, a child psychiatrist, an adult psychiatrist, and in a state hospital setting. He's now the Director of Behavioral Health for Cambia Health Solutions. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Polo about why he chose this specialty and what his biggest breakthroughs/disappointments have been.

Laura Munson is the bestselling Author of This is Not the Story You Think it Is, a beautifully honest and searing memoir about a marriage that is coming apart.  In her new book, Willa's Grove, Munson explores the power and wonder of sisterhood, belonging, and taking care of one another, even during our most difficult transitions. The book lands at a particularly important time as women everywhere seek deeper and more intimate connection. 

In He Came In With It: A Portrait of Motherhood and Madness, artist Miriam Feldman expands into writing by sharing very personal experiences with her son’s mental illness as well as the greater impacts on the entire family. Feldman shares the ups and downs of navigating the mental health system, seeking the best care for her son within a structure that is all too often broken. 

Since the arrival of Covid19, Americans have turned to anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication in sharply increasing numbers. Dr. Jim Polo, a licensed psychiatrist, talks with Beyond Well about the who, what, where, and when of seeking psychopharmacological help. Also, why counseling and behavior modification improves outcomes more than medicines alone. 

Since the arrival of Covid19, Americans have turned to anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication in sharply increasing numbers. Dr. Jim Polo, a licensed psychiatrist, talks with Beyond Well about the who, what, where, and when of seeking psychopharmacological help. Also, why counseling and behavior modification improves outcomes more than medicines alone. 

Laryssa Birdseye is the rare performer whose onstage person matches the intensity and brilliance of her voice. Birdseye’s lyrics are drawn directly from her wry and hilarious commentary on the state of her psychological world. Laryssa’s  clarity about her lifelong battle with anxiety, an eating disorder, and finally alcoholism, is a refreshing blast of honesty, “You think it’s over because you’ve whipped it…oh, but no.”

How do you cope with the long reality of Covid19? Dr. Jenna LeJeune shares some tips and compassionate guided exercises for moving into the now.

  Dr. Jenna LeJeune breaks down the psychological components of stress eating and restricting during quarantine. Both impulses come out of a well established human urge to control our surroundings and how we feel in reaction to stress, anxiety, and sadness.

Doyle Smith, Angel Prater, and Michael Sorenson devote their lives to caring for people who are suffering from psychological distress. Smith runs Dual Diagnosis Anonymous, Prater is an intentional peer support national trainer and Sorenson is the business development director for Cedar Hills Hospital. In this interview, you'll hear specific techniques for moving beyond the isolation and fear of Covid19.   

Our conversation with Erin Khar was recorded before the COVID19 pandemic but it speaks to an already existing crisis in our country, the opioid epidemic. Erin's brilliant memoir explores her fifteen-year-battle with opiate addiction and the very nature of why people do drugs, often to medicate other underlying mental health disorders. Her writing is clear-eyed, factual and cognizant of her own privilege as Erin finally wound her way to health. 

Dr. Jim Polo talks about the unique barriers to effective mental health treatment faced by black Americans. Racial trauma is key to understanding the black experience.

Dr. James Polo joins the team at Beyond Well, with a background as a general physician, as a child psychiatrist, and as a general psychiatrist. Dr. Polo brings over 20 years of experience and previously served as Chief Medical Officer and senior psychiatric physician for Western State Hospital in Washington. He led development and oversight of psychiatric services in various military hospitals, served at the Pentagon as the Health Policy Advisor to the Secretary of the Army. He helped orchestrate complex care delivery for a children’s health care network in Washington state. In this interview, Dr. Polo talks about one of the most powerful experiences that helped him understand the complex forces of addiction and the depth of psychological struggle in family structures. 

We are #turningoverthemic to #BlackVoices, including Domonique Debnam, an advocate and marketing executive for Brand Jordan at Nike in Portland, Oregon. Domonique shares her personal experiences growing up in one of the whitest cities in America and how the worldwide protests against police brutality have changed everything for Domonique personally and her hopes for the future. 

Andrew Solomon says of depression, "Listen to the people who love you. Believe that they are worth living for even when you don't believe it. Seek out the memories depression takes away and project them into the future. Be brave; be strong; take your pills. Exercise because it's good for you even if every step weighs a thousand pounds. Eat when food itself disgusts you. Reason with yourself when you have lost your reason.”  This is a conversation with one of America's renowned writers, thinkers, and advocates about the less reported health impacts of Covid19; the epidemic of depression, and the self-reported increase in anxiety caused by loneliness, job insecurity, and fears of the future.

Doyle Smith, Angel Prater, and Michael Sorenson devote their lives to caring for people who are suffering from psychological distress. Smith runs Dual Diagnosis Anonymous, Prater is an intentional peer support national trainer and Sorenson is the business development director for Cedar Hills Hospital. In this interview, you'll hear specific techniques for moving beyond the isolation and fear of Covid19.     

Zach Carothers talks about his interior work during Covid19, taking time to pay attention to his mental health, and putting down roots in the Portland area for the first time. The PTM Foundation is also advocating for indigenous peoples who have been severely impacted by the spread of Covid19. Carothers is clear-eyed about the challenge of a pandemic. "We will not be the same people coming out of this that we were going in," Carothers says." But, we have the chance to create what's next. And that's, exciting."

Dan Ryan reflects on the similarities between the HIV/Aids crisis and Covid19, including a lack of adequate testing, discrimination against people who contracted the virus, disinformation, and a worldview awareness that viruses can be deadly. Ryan also says the experience deepened him as a human being and set him on a path of deep spiritual exploration. 

Dr. Jenna LeJeune is helping couples navigate tricky territory during the quarantine. How do you help someone who is experiencing extreme distress? Dr. LeJeune offers compassionate, evidence-based solutions.