In This Family

Sarah LaBrie’s Mom Had Severe Mental Illness So Sarah Had to Figure Out Her Past and Her Future

Content Warning: This episode discusses borderline personality disorder, delusions, psychosis and schizophrenia.
Sarah was having an ordinary day in her life as a writer living in Los Angeles when her phone rang. Her grandmother explained that Sarah’s mom had been picked up ranting and raving on the side of the freeway in Houston, where Sarah grew up. It was a shock but not a surprise for Sarah, who had already lived with her mother’s psychosis, schizophrenia, delusions for as long as she could remember, the occurrences getting more frequent as time went on. Fortunately, Sarah had wonderful loving care from her grandmother and her aunt who provided support and strategies for what Sarah was going through. Sarah, the author of the memoir No One Gets to Fall Apart, talks about conflicts with her mom from childhood through to Sarah’s successful career and marriage as an adult. She also shares how really studying and exploring the situation has helped her make connections between traumatic events and the ways both she and her mother shaped their lives as a result of that trauma. In the interview, Sarah mentions the book Understanding the Borderline Mother: Helping Her Children Transcend the Intense, Unpredictable, and Volatile Relationship, which she found very helpful.

Comedian Maria Bamford Loved Her Parents, Learned From Them, Makes Fun of Them

Content Warning: This episode discusses suicide, anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and bipolar disorder. 
Maria Bamford’s parents, Joel and Marilyn, were not part of a generation that knew all the terminology and awareness of mental health that we have today. They couldn’t even identify their own difficulties as being indicative of mental health conditions. But they did try everything they could think of to help their daughter as she struggled through the years with intrusive thoughts, bipolar disorder type II, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Joel and Marilyn are no longer with us but Maria, now a renowned comedian, actor, and best-selling author, remembers them fondly for the effort they put in, the love they demonstrated, and the values they taught her having to do with building community, helping out your fellow human beings, and adapting a worldview when new information becomes available. Her folks were even good sports about Maria persistently including impressions of them in her standup work. Maria Bamford joins host Dr. Michelle K. Murray for an honest, funny, and loving look at how mental health worked in her family and what she’s carried on after they’ve gone.

Breaking the Silence on Mental Health While Keeping Cultural Identity with Vivien Lee

Content Warning: This episode discusses Depression, Anxiety, Rape, Sexual Assault, and Suicidal Ideation. 
Vivien Lee recalls the first inklings of an existential crisis when she was eight years old, a feeling she would eventually connect with depression. As she grew older, Vivien endured severe trauma, threatening her mental health even further. For Vivien, the oldest of several children in a family that was part of Minnesota’s Hmong community, there was nowhere to go to talk about her distress. According to Vivien, mental health was not something that was discussed in her family. She felt that disclosing anything to her parents would be a form of “talking back” and she feared punishment for that. For all of us, the environment a person is raised in, their culture, history, traditions, can all impact one’s wellbeing, sometimes through generations. As an adult, who recently earned a Master’s Degree in marriage and family therapy, Vivien has worked hard to preserve her Hmong identity for herself and her kids while also establishing an openness and honesty that eluded her as a kid.
 
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Sexual Abuse
Help And Healing Hotline
What Are the Signs of Child Sexual Abuse
National Center for PTSD: Child Sexual Abuse
Culture and Mental Health
Social, cultural, and other diversity issues in the traumatic stress field
Culture and Trauma
The Influence of Culture and Society on Mental Health

Gender Identity and Mental Health in the Family with Aaron and Asher

Content Warning: This episode discusses depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and gender dysphoria.
This week, our ongoing conversation about families and mental health turns to the family of our host, Dr. Michelle K. Murray, President and CEO of Nexus Family Healing. She welcomes her brother Aaron and nephew Asher for an enlightening talk about Asher’s journey. Having dealt with clinical depression, anxiety issues, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) for much of his young life, Asher discovered that some of his difficulties arose from another problem: gender dysphoria. That’s a feeling of distress when the gender one identifies with is different than the one they were assigned at birth. Asher talks about realizing that he was transgender and his dad, Aaron, discusses the ways he and Asher’s mom stepped up to support him and help him find the more peaceful and contented place he is in today.
 
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
The Trevor Project
Trans Youth Equality - For Parents
Transgender Children and Youth: Understanding the Basics
Parents of Trans Youth

Ana Marie Cox on Alcohol and Having to Become Your Parent’s Parent

Content Warning: This episode discusses substance abuse, addiction and suicide.
Long before she became a successful journalist, political pundit, and podcaster, Ana Marie Cox was doing her best to navigate some tough times. The family was constantly moving, which, combined with being an only child, made it hard to make and keep friends and get the peer support kids need. Ana needed even more support when her parents divorced and Ana was thrust into the role of being a parent for both herself and her alcoholic mom. When Ana went to live with her dad as a teenager, her mom was heart-broken, furious, and never stopped telling Ana about those feelings until she died of cirrhosis of the liver. Meanwhile, Ana began drinking herself at age 13, a habit that would lead to alcoholism, a life that fell apart, and ultimately rehab, sobriety, and a new lease on life. Ana tells host Dr. Michelle K. Murray about the steps she has taken to make sense of her past so she can thrive in the present and future.
 
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Learn more about parentification and its impact on family systems:
Parentification: Signs and Symptoms of a Parentified Child
Explore more about ketamine-assisted therapy and its considerations:
A New Patient's Guide to Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy
Ketamine Infusion Therapy Treatment Considerations

Moon Zappa Found Peaceful Mental Health After a Childhood of Chaos

Content Warning: this episode discusses self-harm, anxiety and grief.
Author and artist Moon Zappa became famous at age 14, doing a guest vocal on the hit song “Valley Girl” by her dad, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician Frank Zappa. It’s a fun song, what isn’t so fun is that the song came about from Moon’s desperate attempt to get some kind of attention and approval from her dad in what she says was a chaotic household. In this wide ranging interview, Moon talks about a mother prone to fits of rage, a father gone nine months out of the year and checked out when he was there, and a childhood of self-harm and desperate people pleasing. She also explains how as an adult she got some good therapy, learned to identify the root causes of her suffering, and gain a deep understanding not just of the events of a traumatic upbringing but how to grow and even thrive. Her memoir, Earth to Moon, is highly recommended by host Dr. Michelle K. Murray, President and CEO of Nexus Family Healing.

Dr. Joseph Lee, CEO of Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, on Addiction and Healing

Content Warning: This episode discusses addiction. 
As a young resident at Duke University, Joseph Lee saw the profound change that people were capable of when dealing with addiction. He witnessed how people could become healthier than they had ever been with the benefit of skilled treatment, good support, and a lot of determination. Dr. Lee has been with Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation for 17 years, including serving as President and CEO for the last five years. He joins Nexus Family Healing President and CEO Dr. Michelle K. Murray for an enlightening discussion about how addiction works, the misconceptions about it, and some important, practical ways families can help in the recovery process. Dr. Lee says if families can overcome the guilt and shame that goes along with looking for causes and blame, they can be much better equipped to guide their loved one to a better tomorrow.

Loving Families and the Pain of Silence with Meg Kissinger

Content Warning: This episode discusses substance use, depression, anxiety, and death by suicide. 
Award-winning veteran journalist Meg Kissinger grew up as part of a close-knit family in a noisy and active house. That happens in a home with eight kids. Yet there was nothing but silence when it came to the pervasive bipolar disorder, substance use disorder, depression, and anxiety that heavily impacted the Kissingers. Meg, author of the moving memoir While You Were Out, tells how she persevered, found answers that were hard to come by, and got to a healthier place. It’s an inspiring conversation about mental illness, loss, healing, and hope.

How Comedian Gary Gulman Crashed Hard and Pulled Himself Back Up

Content Warning: This episode discusses depression, anxiety, hospitalization, and traumatic experiences.
Gary Gulman has been making people laugh for many years as a top touring comedian and frequent guest on late night shows and star of multiple HBO specials. He’s a professional success by any measure. But that didn’t stop him from having a mental breakdown in his forties, where he gave up comedy, was hospitalized, and ultimately moved back in with his mother. In this revealing conversation with Nexus Family Healing CEO Dr. Michelle K. Murray, Gary reveals the depressive and anxious tendencies of his youth, his struggles connecting with his parents, and how a traumatic event fueled his depression. He also talks about how hard work and a greater understanding of his condition, combined with the abundant patience of his now-wife, put him on the path to not just feeling better but helping audiences ever feel more understood. 
This is the premiere episode of In This Family, a podcast about families and mental health, created by Nexus Family Healing, who believes that when one member of a family is dealing with mental illness, the whole family is too. Through education, support, and love, a family can help with recovery, healing, and a better tomorrow.
Follow and subscribe today at nexusfamilyhealing.org/podcast or on your favorite podcast app.

In This Family Trailer

The podcast, In This Family, features honest and candid conversations with public figures and everyday people about mental health within families, highlighting the power of resilience and courage through those relationships. When one member of a family has a mental health issue, the whole family has a mental health issue; everybody is affected – children and adults. What happens in families can be crucially important in understanding one’s own struggles with mental health and the healing journey. Dr. Michelle K. Murray, CEO of Nexus Family Healing and licensed marriage and family therapist, hosts the program, which offers a variety of perspectives and raw experiences for the listener to relate and feel acknowledged and understood about personal mental health challenges and triumphs. In This Family is produced by Nexus Family Healing, a national nonprofit mental health organization that restores hope for thousands of children and families.