Podcast Episodes

Intrusive Thoughts aka “Pure OCD” – Kimberley Quinlan LMFT

Specializing in treating clients whose self-judgement of their thoughts results in obsession and compulsions, Kimberley sits down with Paul and talks about the different forms OCD can take and how to treat it or support someone you love without enabling their compulsions. She and Paul also play a game she plays with clients called “One Up” where they try to outdo each other in sharing “disgusting” things that pop into their brains to show we all have thoughts pop into our heads that make us uncomfortable and laughing about it instead of judging it is the healthy response. Be forewarned, some of the stuff they share might be considered offensive or too intense for some listeners.

Links and resources mentioned by Kimberley.

This podcast no longer recommends BetterHelp because of their unethical business practices as detailed in the suit brought against them in 2023 by the Federal Trade Commission for sharing private customer information with 3rd parties.

This ep is sponsored by HelloFresh meal delivery. To get $30 off your first week go to www.HelloFresh.com and use offer code MENTAL30

This ep is sponsored by Audible. For a 30 day trial and free audiobook go to www.Audible.com/mental

To buy tickets to LAPodfest Oct 6-8 (we’re taping Oct 8th 4pm) at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown LA or to live stream it go to www.LAPodfest.com

If you live in the Twin Cities come see a live taping of the podcast in the afternoon and a comedy show that night at Sisyphus Brewery (with Paul as the emcee) Sat Oct 14th. Click here for tix or info.

To become a monthly donor (and qualify for bonus content and goodies from Paul go to www.Patreon.com/mentalpod

To make a one-time donations via Paypal go to www.mentalpod.com/donate

Help the podcast by shopping with our podcast’s Amazon link (it doesn’t make your product any more expensive – even bookmark it!)

To help fund Paul’s next trip to record international guests, especially in Ireland, go to https://www.gofundme.com/pauls-trip-to-ireland

Emotionally Coercive Sex – Perfectionism – Dissociating – Parents W/O Boundaries

Paul’s support group friend Meredith opens up about being raised by parents who lacked a sense of privacy or sexual boundaries; being sexualized by her father, mother (who has a long history of “accidentally” showing her vagina) and step-mother in covert but damaging ways, being comfortable giving help but not taking it or asking for it; being a perfectionist, self-harm, being attracted to emotionally unavailable men ( #loveaddiction ) and being on both ends of manipulative/coercive sexual experiences. She also talks about the ways that therapy, support groups and mindfulness have helped her with these issues.

This podcast no longer recommends BetterHelp because of their unethical business practices as detailed in the suit brought against them in 2023 by the Federal Trade Commission for sharing private customer information with 3rd parties.

This ep is sponsored by ZipRecruiter. To post jobs for free go to www.ZipRecruiter.com/mental

To buy tickets to LAPodfest Oct 6-8 (we’re taping Oct 8th 4pm) at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown LA or to live stream it go to www.LAPodfest.com

If you live in the Twin Cities come see a live taping of the podcast in the afternoon and a comedy show that night at Sisyphus Brewery (with Paul as the emcee) Sat Oct 14th. Click here for tix or info.

To become a monthly donor (and qualify for bonus content and goodies from Paul go to www.Patreon.com/mentalpod

To make a one-time donations via Paypal go to www.mentalpod.com/donate

Help the podcast by shopping with our podcast’s Amazon link (it doesn’t make your product any more expensive – even bookmark it!)

To help fund Paul’s next trip to record international guests, especially in Ireland, go to https://www.gofundme.com/pauls-trip-to-ireland

Manhattan Party Girl – Fielding Edlow

Raised in financial privilege but emotional poverty, the actor/writer/standup reflects on her “don’t give a fuck” eating disorder, drug and alcohol years trying to stuff the real feelings of abandonment, not being good enough, anxiety, anger and feeling invisible especially in comparison to her golden-child brother. She gets honest about the “self-centered demon inside me” that drove her actions until sobering up almost 20 years ago and learning to deal with her insecurities, fears and anger by connecting to trusted people in support groups and trying to be of service.

Check out her great web series www.BitterHomesandGardens.com

and her website www.FieldingEdlow.com

This podcast no longer recommends BetterHelp because of their unethical business practices as detailed in the suit brought against them in 2023 by the Federal Trade Commission for sharing private customer information with 3rd parties.

This episode is sponsored by ZipRecruiter. To post job ads for FREE go to www.ZipRecruiter.com/mental

To take the survey Paul mentioned on the podcast (to help out a graduate student doing a thesis on how this podcast helps people) click here.

To become a monthly donor (and qualify for bonus content and goodies from Paul go to www.Patreon.com/mentalpod

Catch the podcast live at LAPodfest Oct 6-8. To learn more go to www.LAPodfest.com

For tix or info for the live podcast appearance Oct 14 in Minneapolis at Sisyphus Brewery click here

To make a one-time donations via Paypal go to www.mentalpod.com/donate

Help the podcast by shopping with our podcast’s Amazon link (it doesn’t make your product any more expensive – even bookmark it!)

To help fund Paul’s next trip to record international guests, especially in Ireland, go to https://www.gofundme.com/pauls-trip-to-ireland

Paul Rust – Anxiety, OCD & Embarrassment

The actor/writer/comedian known for the Netflix show Love, the movie Inglourious Basterds and IFC’s Comedy Bang! Bang! opens up about his battles with anxiety, OCD, taking on other people’s emotions, people pleasing, wanting attention, shame, fear of letting people down and the role vulnerability and therapy have played in him finding emotional stability and peace.

Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulRust

Follow Paul on Instagram @PaulRust

This podcast no longer recommends BetterHelp because of their unethical business practices as detailed in the suit brought against them in 2023 by the Federal Trade Commission for sharing private customer information with 3rd parties.

This episode is sponsored by HelloFresh. To get $30 off your first week of meals go to www.HelloFresh.com and use offer code MENTAL30

To take the survey Paul mentioned on the podcast (to help out a graduate student doing a thesis on how this podcast helps people) click here.

To become a monthly donor (and qualify for bonus content and goodies from Paul go to www.Patreon.com/mentalpod

Catch the podcast live at LAPodfest Oct 6-8. To learn more go to www.LAPodfest.com

If you live in the Twin Cities come see a live taping of the podcast in the afternoon and a comedy show that night (with Paul as the emcee) Sat Oct 14th. More details to follow.

To make a one-time donations via Paypal go to www.mentalpod.com/donate

Help the podcast by shopping with our podcast’s Amazon link (it doesn’t make your product any more expensive – even bookmark it!)

To help fund Paul’s next trip to record international guests, especially in Ireland, go to https://www.gofundme.com/pauls-trip-to-ireland

Plane Crash Survivor – Author Carol E. Miller

The author (Every Moment of a Fall: Recovery Thru EMDR Therapy) opens up in front of a live audience in Oakland about the years she abused herself through bad relationships, booze and sex before therapy and EMDR helped her confront her true feelings about her predatory father, passive mother, abusive step-father and the plane crash she survived as a 16 year-old.

Visit Carol’s website www.Carol-E-Miller.com

Buy her book Every Moment of a Fall: Recovery Thru EMDR Therapy

This podcast no longer recommends BetterHelp because of their unethical business practices as detailed in the suit brought against them in 2023 by the Federal Trade Commission for sharing private customer information with 3rd parties.

This episode is sponsored by Warby Parker Glasses. To try some on free at home go to www.WarbyParker.com/mental

This episode is sponsored by the men’s personal clothes styling service Bombfell To get $25 off your first purchase go to www.Bombfell.com/mental

To become a monthly donor (and qualify for bonus content and goodies from Paul go to www.Patreon.com/mentalpod

Catch the podcast live at LAPodfest Oct 6-8. To learn more go to www.LAPodfest.com

To make a one-time donations via Paypal go to www.mentalpod.com/donate

Help the podcast by shopping with our podcast’s Amazon link (it doesn’t make your product any more expensive – even bookmark it!)

To help fund Paul’s next trip to record international guests, especially in Ireland, go to https://www.gofundme.com/pauls-trip-to-ireland

Food, Porn, Shame, Vulnerability & Losing a Sibling – Matt Shepherd

Paul’s support group friend shares about recovery and battles with binge-eating, shame, compulsive exercise, not knowing what he looks like, porn addiction, love addiction, fear of leaving relationships, feeling like he “is enough”, growing up in a family where one sibling takes up all the parents’ attention and energy, surviving the suicide of his brother and the huge impact learning to be vulnerable has had on his healing and life in general.

Find out more about Matt at:

If Only You Knew My Secret

YouTube personality Sarah Sterling is 26 and was obsessed with Harry Potter (and Disney) since day one. At a convention she met a singer who captivated her. He was 24 and she was 16. Looking back, she sees it as statutory rape and is processing that. What’s possibly even harder to process for her is that she still hasn’t told her overly-protective easily-overreactive mom. Sarah talks about how she has always felt the need to protect her mom from information that would set off her anxiety and the dynamics of having a parent that loves her but sometimes just doesn’t understand her or accept her as an adult.

For more about Sarah visit:

Surviving Her Harry Potter Nightmare Headmaster – Louise M

British Therapist Louise (a pseudonym) shares about the moment in her otherwise mostly happy childhood that things changed. She shares about the abuse at a posh Harry-Potteresque school when she was six by a headmaster who walked the dark halls with a torch; her mom’s drinking, letting go of childhood shame, fear of conflict, how parents can support an abused child, when kids sexually abuse other kids, inner child work, Britain’s NHS, and trying to cope with past trauma thru drugs and sex.

This podcast no longer recommends BetterHelp because of their unethical business practices as detailed in the suit brought against them in 2023 by the Federal Trade Commission for sharing private customer information with 3rd parties.

This episode is sponsored by Casper Mattresses. To learn more go to www.Casper.com/mental Listeners can use offer code MENTAL

To become a monthly donor (and qualify for bonus content and goodies from Paul like the upcoming raffle for a free hotel, lunch with Paul, weekend passes for two and front row seats for the MIHH taping at LAPodfest Oct 6-8) go to www.Patreon.com/mentalpod

Monthly donors pick a number between 1 and 1000. The closest guess wins the hotel and weekend passes (does not include airfare). Contest ends Aug 16th. Monthly donors get 1 guess for each $5 amount they donate per month. So a 15/month donor would get 3 guesses etc. Patreon subscribers submit your guesses through the Patreon site, PayPal subscribers email Paul thru the mentalpod.com website.

To learn more about LAPodfest go to www.LAPodfest.com

To help fund Paul’s next trip to record international guests, especially in Ireland, go to https://www.gofundme.com/pauls-trip-to-ireland

To make a one-time donations via Paypal go to www.mentalpod.com/donate

Help the podcast by shopping with our podcast’s Amazon link (it doesn’t make your product any more expensive – even bookmark it!)

When Your Trauma Informs Your Turn Ons

Why do some people enjoy physical pain or become aroused by it? For Kal, the discovery came with a lot of complications; he was a young boy and it was at the hands of a powerful and sadistic pedophile Rabbi (Heshy Brier) who is now a fugitive living in Israel. Kal shares about his years of self-destruction and bottoming out before eventually getting sober and starting the process of healing and advocating for other survivors.

This podcast no longer recommends BetterHelp because of their unethical business practices as detailed in the suit brought against them in 2023 by the Federal Trade Commission for sharing private customer information with 3rd parties.

This episode is sponsored by BlueApron. To get your first 3 meals free with FREE delivery, go to www.BlueApron.com/mental

To become a monthly donor (and qualify for bonus content and goodies from Paul like the upcoming raffle for a free hotel at LAPodfest Oct 6-8) go to www.Patreon.com/mentalpod

To learn more about LAPodfest go to www.LAPodfest.com
To help fund Paul’s next trip to record international guests, especially in Ireland, go to https://www.gofundme.com/pauls-trip-to-ireland

To make a one-time donations via Paypal go to www.mentalpod.com/donate

Help the podcast by shopping with our podcast’s Amazon link (it doesn’t make your product any more expensive – even bookmark it!)