Former NIMH Director Thomas Insel & Sarah Fay On Fixing the Broken Mental Health Care System

Today I have a very special treat As we have two guests on the show. First, we have Sarah Fay who is an award winning author and mental health advocate working to improve how we think and talk about our mental health by moving the conversation away from simplistic diagnoses and toward a deeper understanding of our mental and emotional lives. Her personal experience of being diagnosed with six different mental health disorders and finding no relief led her to investigate the diagnoses that we receive and to write her journalistic memoir, Pathological: The True Story of Six Misdiagnoses, which apple book shows as one of the best books in March. Joining her to unpack a lot of this and more is Dr. Thomas Insel who's a psychiatrist and neuroscientist who has been a national leader in mental health research, policy, and technology. From 2002 to 2015, Dr. Insel served as director of the National Institute of Mental Health.    We talk about why diagnoses and symptoms shouldn’t be the focus in treating our mental health, how we should work on ourselves first and allow healing, why we should not allow what we are growing through to define our identity, and so much more!  Thanks to this episode's sponsor: Join Thrive Market today to get 40% off your first order and a free gift worth over $50. Visit thrivemarket.com/dougfitness. Earth Echo Foods/Cacao Bliss: www.earthechofoods.com/dougbopst Use Promo code "Doug" at checkout to receive 15% off your order  What to Listen For: 00:00 Intro 02:04 Almost in any measure of public health, we suck 05:36 What is DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual)? 08:56 Unconsciously becoming anorexic 14:34 “The focus was on my symptoms, not on my life.” 17:58 Identifying with your diagnosis 21:59 “I was never given a future.” 25:37 We have to disguise illness from identity 30:24 Is it just a collection of symptoms? 34:34 Prescriptions aren’t necessarily the answer 38:42 Two steps to restoring mental health 42:27 The metaphor of a broken leg 47:08 Getting therapy out of helping others 49:23 The correlation of our physical and mental health 55:24 Finding out mental health diagnoses are invalid 59:03 When healing doesn’t feel like punishment anymore 01:02:16 Everything we need is hiding in plain sight  Episode Resources: Dr. Thomas Insel | Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, Book Mind Site News Sarah Fay | Website, Instagram, Facebook, Book Pathological: The Movement Follow me on Social Media: LinkedIn Instagram Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices