Jeff Rosenthal
Jeff is Paul’s friend of 28 years and the son of former guest and Holocaust survivor Kristine Keese. He shares about her recent passing, their ...
The Mental Illness Happy Hour is a weekly online podcast that interviews comedians, artists, friends, and the occasional doctor. Each episode explores mental illness, trauma, addiction and negative thinking.
“A perversely safe place in which [Paul] and his guests talk about their fears, addictions and traumatic childhoods.” -The New York Times
“Normalizes what so many others feel but have been too fearful or ashamed to express… remarkable.” -Psychology Today
Latest episodes
10/21/2016Jeff RosenthalEpisode: 300
Jeff is Paul's friend of 28 years and the son of former guest and Holocaust survivor Kristine Keese. He shares about her recent passing, their deep but complicated relationship, how he made peace with her being "a terrible mom but a great friend" and the book she wrote Shadows of Survival: A Child's Memoir of the Warsaw Ghetto. Buy Kristine's book here. Follow Jeff on Twitter @Jeff_Rosie Visit Jeff's Facebook page This episode is sponsored by Meundies. For 20% off your first order go to www.meundies.com/mental This episode is sponsored by Young Health's Probimune. For a free bottle go to www.probimune.com and use offer code MENTAL when you sign up for automated delivery. This episode is sponsored by MVMT watches. For 15% off today with free shipping and free returns go to www.mvmtwatches.com/mental For tix or info on the In This Together Festival Nov 13th in Los Angeles at the Avalon go to www.ITTFest.comPodcast: Download (67.7MB)
10/21/2016
10/14/2016Freshman College Meltdown: Jen Curran’s Story
The writer/improviser shares about the mental/emotional breakdown her freshman year of college at NYU that left her living in her car and squatting in...
10/07/2016#298 Lora B
The 33 year-old listener was the woman who comforted Murray Valeriano during our live episode last week. From a blended family with every kind of ab...
Check Episode Archive or use this search box for specific topics
About the Show
Comedian Paul Gilmartin hosts a weekly, hour-long audio podcast consisting of interviews with artists, friends and the occasional doctor.
The show is geared towards anyone interested in or affected by depression, addiction and other mental challenges which are so prevalent in the creative arts.
Paul’s hope is that the show and this website will give people a place to connect, smile and feel the return of hope. The biggest myth about mental illness is that you are alone and there is no help.
DISCLAIMER:
The Mental Illness Happy Hour is NOT a substitute for professional diagnosis or treatment.
For information on treatment please visit HelpGuide.org
The Mentalblog
- 12/01/2014
Inside the Hearts, Bodies and Minds of Sexual Trauma Survivors
If you want to understand what survivors think and feel every day, watch this video. It’s text excerpts from the anonymously taken survey “Struggle in a Sentence”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BkH3moFgjQ&feature=youtu.be&a...
- 10/27/2014
High-Fiving Male Sex Abuse Victims
We’ve all seen the familiar story. Hot teacher and young teenage male student. One newspaper used the word “romp” to describe a 24 year-old woman and a 16 year-old boy. I click on the links and read the stories even though I know the reader......
- 04/18/2014
Scar Tissue by Paul Gilmartin
Scar Tissue I’m sitting here at my favorite coffee place wondering why I didn’t wear looser pants. My junk is swollen. Not with pleasure; with bruising and stitches and a Band-Aid. I had a vasectomy yesterday and like many of the twelve operations I’ve......
- 03/19/2014
Come See Paul Speak
March 25th at Lassen Community College is Susanville, CA. There will be a screening of the California PBS documentary “A New State of Mind” followed by some speakers, one of whom will be Paul. The event is from 5:30-8:30. Admission is free and reservations......
- 10/19/2013
Live Show in Toronto Nov 16th with Scott Thompson
Click here for details and tickets. The show is at 4pm, tickets are $12. There will also be a group recording of listeners Friday Nov 15th at 7pm. It will also take place in the Workman Arts building at 651 Dufferin St in Toronto. Signs......
- 08/15/2013
Childhood Bill of Rights
Thanks to podcast guest Susan Hagen for turning me on to this and Amanda Curtin for developing it. Childhood Bill of Rights A child has the right to be safe to have parents who are resources in a one way relationship that is focused......
Check Blog Archive for more
- 06/05/2016
How Sexual Abuse Affected My Mind: An Email from Katie M.
So my story is kind of complicated (as if others aren’t). When I was about 6 years old, I was continually molested by my brothers friend over the course of a month or so while my brother would be at band practice in our basement.......
- 01/15/2016
I’m Not Strong Enough: Thoughts From An Overwhelmed Mother
Paul, Sleep is a challenge lately. Life is…hard lately. Not bad, quite good in some ways, but hard and exhausting. A long while back you said something that’s stuck with me…how the word “enough” can be so damaging. “Not good enough, not cool enough, not......
- 08/21/2015
Cutting Contact With Her Mom: An email from Barbara in NC
Hi Paul- I have tried to start this letter to you so many times (and here I go again!), but listening to what you said about missing your mom on a recent show finally got me to do it. I don’t think anyone that has......
- 02/08/2015
Weird Phobias email
The following is an email correspondence between myself and “Marie”, a listener who messaged me via Facebook. She gave me her permission to post this. Marie Please have a show about weird phobias. I have a fear of answering the telephone along with a......
- 07/13/2013
Email of the Day: Listener Ryan on coping with his trauma
Paul I am 40 yrs old. My last memory of feeling normal was at about age 5. That day a neighbor asked me if i wanted to come see his train set, and i naturally obliged. Not until age 26 did i start to......
- 06/18/2013
Email of the Day: Pretending it Wasn’t Rape by Anne Marie
Hi there, I was listening to episode 118 (Kulap Vilaysack Returns) and heard the survey from the woman who said she wasn’t sure if she had been sexually abused and that she went back to the man who she’d told no to after to make......
Check Blog Archive for more
- 10/13/2016
What Not To Say to Someone Who Has Depression: A Guest Blog by Dr. Susan J. Noonan
I was recently asked by a journalist what I would recommend “never” to say to someone who has depression. That’s a very good question. In my recent book When Someone You Know Has Depression: Words to say and things to do (2016), I focus......
- 09/04/2016
A Letter To Her Suicidal 16 Year-Old Self: Guest Blog by Katie Hirshberg
A Letter To My 16 Year Old Self In four months I will be 20 years old. Two decades. This is an important year for me. Four years ago, I couldn’t see myself where I am today. Four years ago I didn’t have much hope. My......
- 08/27/2016
Losing a Parent When You’re Four: A Guest Blog by Cassie Heath
Losing a Parent When You’re Four When I was nine years-old I was rummaging through a clothing rack at Kohl’s I came across a T-shirt that read “Daddy’s Girl”. My throat burned. I began to sob in the middle of Kohl’s. My mother frantically ran......
- 08/27/2016
When A Shopping Addiction Isn’t Funny: Guest Blog by Kaitlin Bentley
Most people know the difference between “wants” and “needs.” I am not one of those people. My room is littered with the remnants of shopping binges; boxes of makeup and skincare collecting dust, books sitting unread for months, hobbies I grew tired of before I......
- 08/23/2016
Crossing The Line in Therapy: A Guest Blog by Mark Rubinstein M.D.
Crossing the Line in Therapy Sometimes Rules Are Meant to be Broken by Mark Rubinstein, M.D., Author of Bedlam’s Door As a practicing psychiatrist, I was treating Alice, a 38-year-old, unmarried artist living in a Manhattan loft. She was depressed about her career and life’s......
- 08/12/2016
Mental Illness Portrayed in Film: A guest blog by therapist Paige Zuckerman
Crazy in Celluloid: misrepresentation of mental illness in film Consider your favorite “crazy” movie character, perhaps you conjure-up the image of a leering Psycho Norman Bates or a charismatically chaotic Joker in The Dark Knight. Whatever image comes to mind, there’s likely to be several......
Check Blog Archive for more
- 03/06/2015
Most Popular Eps of 2014
Most popular Eps of 2014 #1 Todd Glass #2 Lauren Ashley Bishop #3 NHL Goalie Clint Malarchuk #4 Low Self-Esteem with Guy Winch PhD #5 Mick Betancourt #6 Loneliness with Guy Winch PhD #7 Chris Gethard #8 Matt Oswalt #9 Rumination with Guy Winch PhD......
- 03/21/2014
Favorite Episodes of 2013 as Voted By Listeners
Top Listener-Voted Eps of 2013 1. Maria Bamford 2. Emily Gordon 3.David Hirohama: Counseling Sexual Predators 4. CPS Worker Ray 5. Aisha Tyler live at LA Podfest 6. Elizabeth Laime 7. Kulap Vilaysack Returns 8. Chemda 9. Sara Benincasa 10. Lynn Chen To view the......
- 02/16/2013
Favorite Episodes of 2012 as Voted By Listeners
Top Listener-Voted Eps of 2012 1. Dr. Jessica Zucker #1 2. Dr. Jessica Zucker #2 3. Chris Hardwick 4. Rob Delaney 5. Nadereh Fanaeian 6. Kerri Kenney-Silver 7. Steve Agee 8. Dave Holmes 9. Laurie Kilmartin 10. Policeman Andy...
- 10/16/2012
Listeners Voted Their Ten Favorite Episodes of 2011
Check out the listener-voted Top 10 Favorite Episodes of 2011! 1. Teresa Strasser 2. Adam Carolla 3. Paul F. Tompkins 4. Marc Maron 5. Kulap Vilaysack 6. Eddie Pepitone 7. Ex-Con “Murph” 8. Karma 9. Beth Littleford 10. Jimmy Pardo...
- 12/10/2011
Take our new survey!
We’ve released a new survey! The Shame & Secrets survey is entirely anonymous, and will only share with others what you share with us. For more information check out the Surveys Page....