We're All Mad Here

NOTE: In this episode, you’ll hear my volume going up and down slightly. This isn’t my mic or my editing; it’s my actual voice due to currently having COVID and being unable to support my voice for a full sentence. I’ll most likely re-record this episode once I have my lung capacity back, but I […]

Just outside Detroit, Michigan, a poorhouse was built in the early 1800s. In addition to treating the mentally ill, Eloise Hospital had many other uses, pioneered treatments, and was once pronounced the most expensive psychiatric facility in the world. www.patreon.com/allmadpodcast SOURCES: https://web.archive.org/web/20140512231142/http://www.thewaynedispatch.com/history-of-eloise/ https://www.hometownlife.com/story/news/local/westland/2020/08/07/former-eloise-asylum-westland-could-become-hotel-event-space/3305085001/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eloise_(psychiatric_hospital) https://fornology.blogspot.com/2018/05/when-we-called-insane-asylum-eloise.html

Princess Deok-hye, the last princess of Korea, started life as a happy child. But when she was 8, her father died and a series of unfortunate events quickly followed. Forced to move to Japan due to annexation, where her mental health declined, historians consider Deok-hye’s life to have been stolen by colonization. SOURCES: https://historyofyesterday.com/the-tragic-life-of-the-last-princess-of-korea-b6812df49041 http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20121211000831 […]

Have you ever been a fan of someone famous and just KNOW that the two of you would be friends if you met? That’s known as a parasocial relationship. But are parasocial relationships normal? Are they safe? What does the object of affection get from the relationship? www.patreon.com/allmadpodcast SOURCES: https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/parasocial-relationships-online-cancelling-bon-appetit Parasocial Relationships: The Nature of […]

We all know Judy Garland as one of the most successful actors of the classic Hollywood days. But behind the scenes of her famous movies, Judy- with some help from MGM Studios- was struggling with mental health and drug addiction. www.patreon.com/allmadpodcast

This week I interviewed Emilie Leyes, who is a performer and a specialist in neuroplasticity and brain training. Currently working on her Master’s and PhD in Mind and Body Medicine, Emilie works with actors and non-actors alike to keep their minds and bodies safe during performances.

Why does it seem like so many artists are mentally ill? Are mentally ill people more likely to go into the arts, or do the arts create mentally ill people? Hello everyone, I’m back! I sorely needed the break, but I also missed podcasting so much! I’m back on my crappy mic in this episode […]

CW: Child abuse, suicidal ideation, sexual assault JT Leroy became famous almost overnight for his novel SARAH, a fictionalized version of his upbringing with his sex worker mother who later forced him into sex work. But as he published more and his fame grew, people started to wonder who JT Leroy really was.

Despite not having any qualifications in psychology, Bruno Bettelheim managed to do irreparable damage to the autistic community in his 40 years of practice. He promoted the theory that neglectful parenting, or “refrigerator mothers” caused autism and psychopathy, and while the director of a school for troubled children, exercised corporal punishment constantly. It wasn’t until […]

“Autism” first got its name in the early 1900s, when a doctor believed that certain children were so obsessed with themselves (the Greek word “auto” meaning “self”) that they chose to block out everything and everyone outside of their own mind. Over the next hundred-plus years, doctors and researchers, as well as celebrities, would throw […]

Princess Alice, the mother of recently deceased Prince Philip, is described as a princess who “refused to fit the royal mold.” Alice was born different, with congenital deafness. But starting as a toddler, she learned to speak and lip read German, English, French, and Greek. Once married to Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, she […]

With two well-publicized mass shootings happening last month, America yet again set to blaming the criminals’ violence on mental illness. Former presidents have also claimed over the decades that mental illness is the cause for all shocking violent acts. But research shows that actually, the mentally ill make up only 4% of ALL gun violence. […]

Mary and Charles Lamb were a brother and sister team who spent decades both in and out of private psych hospitals AND making their mark on the 19th century British literary scene. www.patreon.com/allmadpodcast

When Colleen Adams disappeared on November 22, 1973, her husband Geoffrey told authorities that her violent post partum depression had inspired her to desert her husband and daughters. While Colleen’s family never believed this was true, her mental instability was backed up by a past boyfriend as well. Did Colleen choose to leave, or was […]

When America was born, founding father Patrick Henry was newly married to his much younger new wife. But what happened to his first wife, Sarah Shelton? Why did she spend the last four years of her life locked in the family cellar? www.patreon.com/allmadpodcast SOURCES: Sarah Shelton Henry: The Wife Patrick Henry Kept in the Cellar […]

Quite a few accomplished chess players ended up becoming mentally ill later in their careers- but is chess itself responsible for its players’ problems? www.patreon.com/allmadpod SOURCES https://members.tripod.com/HSK_Chess/steinitz.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/five-myths-about-chess/2020/11/20/529fb63a-2a79-11eb-9b14-ad872157ebc9_story.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Steinitz https://www.chess.com/article/view/can-anyone-be-an-im-or-gm Chess and Mental Illness: 12 Chess Player Who Suffered From Severe Mental Problems http://tartajubow.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-tragic-story-of-brilliant-alvis.html https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2020000300169 https://bleeckerstreetmedia.com/editorial/the-most-dangerous-game#:~:text=After%20he%20lost%20his%20championship,inmate%20up%20for%20a%20game.

It’s the first episode of Rachel’s new podcast HOOKED! On May 15 2001, one of the most beloved bloggers of the early internet died from a brain aneurysm after battling leukemia.  On May 19, 2001, the internet learned that Kaycee Nicole Swenson had not, in fact, died. She had never existed.   www.patreon.com/hookedthepod SOURCES: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaycee_Nicole  […]

Why do we want to squeeze or nibble on things we find overwhelmingly adorable? It’s called “cute aggression!” www.patreon.com/allmadpodcast “Tears of Joy” May Help Us Maintain Emotional Balance https://www.brainfacts.org/thinking-sensing-and-behaving/emotions-stress-and-anxiety/2019/cute-aggression-why-you-want-to-squeeze-adorable-creatures–091019 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271503312_Dimorphous_Expressions_of_Positive_Emotion_Displays_of_Both_Care_and_Aggression_in_Response_to_Cute_Stimuli https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cute_aggression https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/12/31/679832549/when-too-cute-is-too-much-the-brain-can-get-aggressive https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181204143857.htm

Did you know that in addition to creating a cereal empire, John Harvey Kellogg was a doctor AND ran a sanitarium for most of his life? Obsessed with purity of mind and body, Kellogg created a home-away-from-home resort where people with all kinds of illness could relax, eat his food inventions, and get all the […]

Happy holidays and a merry New Year!