The language we have for describing mental health challenges and suffering can constrict or expand the realm of possibilities for how we define ourselves. Sascha Altman DuBrul has spent his life challenging mainstream assumptions about mental health, what’s normal and abnormal, and built a community around shifting the narrative. Drawing from his personal experiences of getting locked up in a psych ward, he co-founded a radical mental health support group and media project (The Icarus Project) which proliferated the language of mental health concerns as ‘Dangerous Gifts,’ to be harnessed and worked with rather than obliterated and erased. Today we talk about lessons learned, the challenges and necessity of community organizing, developing ethical values as a provider outside the system, and visions for the future of mental health.

In this episode: 02:30 Sascha’s Story & The Icarus Project
07:53 From Punk Rock Subcultures to Radical Mental Health
11:11 Challenges and Transitions in Mental Health Organizing
17:14 Dangerous Gifts and other language
26:46 Using Internal Family Systems to Process Shame
42:35 Self-reflection in Community Organizing
51:30 A Vision for the Future

Bio

Sascha DuBrul is a writer and educator that has been facilitating workshops and community dialogues at universities, conferences, community centers and activist gatherings for more than two decades. From the anarchist squatter community in New York City to the Lacandon jungle of Chiapas, Mexico, to the Earth First! road blockades of the Pacific Northwest, Sascha is a pioneer in urban farming and creative mental health advocacy. He is the co-founder of the Bay Area Seed Interchange Library, the first urban seed library in North America, and The Icarus Project, a radical community support network and media project that’s actively redefining the language and culture of mental health and illness. He is currently working in private practice and raising two children in Oakland, California.

Sascha’s Website & Private Practice: https://www.saschadubrul.com/

Underground Transmissions Substack : https://undergroundtransmissions.substack.com/

The Icarus Project Archive and Resources: https://site.icarusprojectarchive.org/about-us

Icarus Project Archive Survey 2024https://forms.gle/3EvDGq7NoyHa2Rzr9

Get bonus episodes now on substack! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://depthwork.substack.com/⁠

Sessions & Information about the host: ⁠⁠JazmineRussell.com⁠⁠

Disclaimer: The DEPTH Work Podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Any information on this podcast in no way to be construed or substituted as psychological counseling, psychotherapy, mental health counseling, or any other type of therapy or medical advice.

Are most mental health concerns a result of issues with cellular metabolism? In this episode, I discuss Dr. Chris Palmer’s 'brain energy theory,' which draws on decades of cross-disciplinary research, positing that metabolic dysfunctions throughout the body may underlie various mental health conditions. I explore how mental health, chronic illness, stress, modern lifestyle, and cellular metabolism are all related in an ongoing feedback loop. I review a landmark pilot study from Stanford on the ketogenic diet, and other research supporting this theory. This is a really exciting time for psychiatry as we move beyond neurotransmitter imbalance theories and understand the complex nuances of brain and body health. Studies such as these can promote more agency to make healthy choices and options to intervene at many levels in service of our health.

00:00 Introduction 00:26 Challenging the dominant paradigm 01:23 The Brain Energy Theory of metabolic health explained 06:00 The Role of Cellular Metabolism & Mitochondria 11:25 How our environment sets the stage 14:16 Nutritional interventions and the ketogenic diet 15:42 Case Studies and Research Findings

Get bonus episodes now on substack! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://depthwork.substack.com/⁠

Sessions & Information about the host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠JazmineRussell.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

Links

• Brain Energy by Chris Palmer https://brainenergy.com/
• Metabolic Mind https://www.metabolicmind.org/
• Stanford Pilot Trial description: https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2024/04/keto-diet-mental-illness.html
• Case study of depression and anxiety: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2024.1396685/full
• Review of Keto for Mental Health: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11122005/

Disclaimer: The DEPTH Work Podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Any information on this podcast in no way to be construed or substituted as psychological counseling, psychotherapy, mental health counseling, or any other type of therapy or medical advice.

“Our mental health is a cumulative product of the story of the body.” Why do mental and physical health concerns seem to go hand in hand? At which levels can and should we intervene and develop more agency in our whole health trajectory? Too many people are getting more sick with traditional interventions, but many are taking their power back and finding ways that basic and sustainable changes can change our outcomes. In this episode, I share personal and professional lessons in healing from over a dozen chronic conditions (celiac, depression, IBS, Lyme, anemia, schizophrenia, PMDD, etc.), revealing how they were all connected and how I came to understand the importance of sustainable changes. I am not here to offer a “magic pill” kind of story, but rather to reveal and embrace the complexity of healing and offer a different framework for understanding mind-body health.

In this episode we discuss:

• chronic illness and mental health overlap
• early cascades of symptoms that lead to chronic health crises
• surprising roots causes no one ever told me about
• why getting diagnosed is not enough to determine interventions
• interpreting the body’s messages
• why western world has worse rates of chronic illness and mental health concerns
• determining the most basic and sustainable interventions

Get bonus episodes now on substack! ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://depthwork.substack.com/

Sessions & Information about the host: ⁠⁠⁠JazmineRussell.com⁠⁠⁠

Links

• chronic illness rates : https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletter-article/study-chronic-disease-increased-25-percent-over-last-decade
• global chronic disease: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6214883/
• c section and swabbing : https://www.science.org/content/article/swabbing-c-section-babies-mom-s-microbes-can-restore-healthy-bacteria
• effects of overuse of antibiotics: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4939477/
• pans and step bacteria: https://www.psych.theclinics.com/article/S0193-953X(22)00101-0/abstract

Disclaimer: The DEPTH Work Podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Any information on this podcast in no way to be construed or substituted as psychological counseling, psychotherapy, mental health counseling, or any other type of therapy or medical advice.