Laura Delano is a mental health advocate and the author of 'Unshrunk'. Laura shares her personal story of spending over a decade entrenched in the American psychiatric system, from early diagnoses and heavy medication as a teenager to becoming a 'treatment-resistant’ patient in her twenties. Laura explains how questioning psychiatric narratives, discovering critical research, and reclaiming her relationship with emotional pain ultimately saved her life. The conversation also covers the medicalization of human suffering, cultural incentives for overdiagnosis, and why long-term psychiatric drug use may worsen outcomes for many.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:00) 'Unshrunk' explained

(03:26) Teen breakdown & diagnosis

(06:04) Harvard & collapse

(10:02) Treatment resistant label

(14:05) Questioning psychiatry

(19:01) Do drugs help?

(24:25) History of psychiatry

(29:50) Mental illness vs health

(36:09) Cultural consequences

(46:07) Root causes of despair

(1:02:41) Tapering medications

(1:04:55) Outro

Follow Laura Delano:

https://lauradelano.com

https://unshrunkthebook.com

https://theinnercompass.org

https://x.com/LauraDelano

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