September 14, 2025 • 22 mins
Follow my journey through the chaos of mental illness and the hard-fought lessons learned along the way.
Lived experience is at the heart of this podcast — every episode told through my own lens, with raw honesty and zero filter.
This is a genuine and vulnerable account of how multiple psychological disorders have shaped my past and continue to influence my future.
You can follow me on Instagram: @elliot.t.waters, and the show on Facebook!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 0 (00:10):
Good day everybody.
My name is Elliot Waters andyou're listening to the
Dysregulated Podcast.
As always, thank you for tuningin.
If you're enjoying the show,feel free to like, subscribe,
give the show a great rating andyou can share it around with
your mates.
And you can follow me onInstagram at elliotttwaters, and
you can follow the show onFacebook by searching for the
(00:30):
Dysregulated Podcast.
All right, so let's do a littlebit of a check-in.
Most of this episode is goingto be about the podcast itself
and what's coming up ahead and afew things like that.
So that'll be the majority ofthis episode, but I will touch
on my mood just quickly.
(00:51):
Of course, over the last twoweeks I don't have a great deal
to report.
It's sort of been a bit of thewhole same old same old, which
is lots of anxiety, lots ofsocial capacity issues.
There's been some depressivedips, though, I must admit,
which have caught me off guard alittle bit, yesterday not being
(01:12):
a particularly great day, butthen yesterday was a no
stimulant day, so I was very,very flat yesterday.
I wasn't super, super anxious,but I was quite depressed
without that stimulant and Icertainly had no energy and I
did a lot of sleeping.
But the good thing is that thisweek or the end of this week or
last week, I haven't done thewhole stay in bed for like two,
(01:36):
three days thing and then be sopetrified that I can't move once
I wake up again.
That whole little exercisedidn't happen this week or this
one.
Just gone it was yeah.
So yesterday I was sleeping alot but I was still able to get
my meals in and medications andall that sort of stuff, but of
course not the stimulant,because I needed a stimulant
(01:59):
holiday, as you call it, to keepthat tolerance under control.
Actually, there is some badnews regarding my medication,
bad bad news, and I'm going todo a full episode on it soon,
and that episode is titled, orwill be titled, medication
Emergency, because that'sexactly what's going on.
(02:19):
It's not good.
But those with adhd inparticular, who are prescribed
the stimulant, you guys, I thinkwill understand exactly where
I'm coming from.
Uh, with this particularmedication emergency, but that's
coming maybe tomorrow orwednesday, um, but yes, I slept
(02:39):
a lot because of no stimulation.
Um, as I said, the anxietywasn't too bad, don't get me
wrong.
It was there, as it always is,but it didn't go to that next
level, but I was very flat anddepressed.
It was a nice day outside.
I didn't leave the house, it'sthat sort of stuff.
It wasn't particularly fun, butI got through it as best as I
(03:00):
could.
Then today it wasn'tparticularly fun, but I got
through it as best as I could.
And then today we're back onthe stimulant and here we are
doing a podcast episode, andthat's sort of how it happens.
I wouldn't say at this pointthat I'm addicted to the
medication.
I wouldn't.
I don't believe that because Idon't crave it in the sense that
I'm like you know, oh, I can'twait to have my dexamphetamine.
(03:22):
I'm going to feel so high, it'sgoing to be great, I'm just
going to go crazy.
That's not how I think.
I think I can't wait to have mydexamphetamine medication
because then I can actually getup and do something and achieve
something with my day.
So I don't know, maybe that initself is a high and if it is
well, whatever.
But yeah, very dependent on themedications I have to be able to
(03:43):
function at all, which is notgood, and this is why I wanted
to try and get off them.
But, as we know, that hasbecome maybe a bridge too far.
But anyway, that's all right.
That's still evolving, thatsituation.
I'm still a little while awayuntil my next psychiatry
appointment and same as my nextpsychology appointment too.
That's a little bit off.
The reason I haven't been tothe psychologist as much lately
(04:07):
and therefore haven't done a myTherapy Reflections episode
recently is because I don't havethe money.
Because you'll remember, ifyou've been listening to the
show, that I've dropped backhours at work to try and build
up that social capacity and notbe burnt out at the end of each
week, which I'm still not sureif this experiment is coming up
(04:27):
with the results that I washoping for.
But anyway, whatever, it'sstill ongoing.
But the fact is I'm not makingas much money as I was and
unfortunately psychology, or atleast the consistency of me
going to therapy, has been puton hold a bit because I just
can't afford it.
So if there's anyone listeningwho's got a spare I don't know
(04:49):
10 grand, feel free to sponsorthe show.
If you'd like to sponsor theshow, let me know.
That would be great.
Still waiting for a sponsor.
I'm sure one of thesemedication companies would like
to sponsor the show, butunfortunately I've rubbished
their product too often toprobably make it worthwhile for
them.
So I don't know, maybe I'lllook for sponsorship in another
(05:11):
way, anyway, moving on.
So to the stuff that's about thepodcast moving forward.
So the first thing is theintake interview series.
So I am putting the call out.
I think I've done it briefly onthe show already, but I'm doing
it again here now and I'm goingto do an episode on the whole
intake interview series process.
So it's very clear for thosewho want to get on board and
(05:34):
share their story.
But I am putting the call out.
If you'd like to share yourstory of lived experience here
on the show, feel free tomessage me on Instagram, on
Facebook, and I'll get back toyou as soon as I can.
There's a few people that havemessaged through that I haven't
replied to yet, and I reallywant to say this this isn't
(05:56):
because I don't respect yourstory.
Okay, like, the privilege andthe honor to share and showcase
some people's lived experienceon this show is something that's
not lost on me, trust me.
And if you're waiting for areply from me and you're
thinking that I must not give adamn, that's why I haven't
opened your message and done ityet.
That's not the case.
(06:16):
The case is social capacityissues.
So I apologise to those whohave reached out and I haven't
been able to get back to justyet.
I promise when the winds areblowing I'm going to have my
sales set in the right direction.
I'm going to do all the replyingand sending out of emails for
the Intac interviews, becausethis is going to be awesome,
it's going to be great and it'sgoing to be really good to be
(06:40):
able to put your stories outthere in a way that you would
like it to be presented, becauseit's your episode, it's not
mine.
But yeah, I just need thatsocial capacity.
I'm hoping today I'll be ableto reply to people, but even so,
if you listen to this episode,you're wondering where the hell
I've been.
I've been around, but I haven'tbeen very active since the end
(07:03):
of the week because I have beenquite snowed under as far as
social capacity goes.
So my apologies, there's nodisrespect from my behalf.
I just haven't been able tomentally be able to do it yet.
So those replies are comingsoon.
It is also helpful and important, and I'll talk more about this
(07:25):
in the episode dedicated to theinterview series and how it
works.
But it is helpful and importantif you do provide an email
address, because there's a fewdocuments that I send across,
just like a talent release formis one, or my rubric, like a
structured document just to puta bit of structure around the
(07:46):
episode.
I send that one across as well.
That's a Google document thatwe can both access.
So an email address is helpfulbecause then I can send those
attachments along, as well asthe little spiel that I give and
will be giving to all theguests on the show, just to make
(08:10):
sure that you guys know exactlywhat's going on and you're in
control.
It's your story, you're theexpert, it's your episode, and I
cannot wait to listen to yourexperiences and be able to
showcase them here on the show.
It's a real great privilege andI think it'll do the listeners
a lot of good too, because I'vesaid this before and I'll say it
again my story is for better orfor worse is quite broad,
because I've said this beforeand I'll say it again my story
is for better or for worse isquite broad, because I have a
lot of diagnoses, I'm on a lotof medications, I've trialled a
(08:31):
lot of medications and I've donea lot of therapy, but at the
same time, it still is only mystory and my experiences, and
although I can wear a lot ofhats different hats in the
mental health space, I can'twear them all, which is a good
thing, because I think that's.
I don't think my prognosiswould be very good under the
weight of all those hats.
(08:52):
But you guys bring with yousuch unique, awesome experiences
and that contribution to theshow, I think, will just be so
awesome for people listening andmyself to really broaden that
understanding where it comesaround to mental ill health.
So, yeah, there you go, andlots of inspiration as well.
Let's not forget that part andit's important.
(09:13):
I think these episodes areimportant because often when
you've got a mental illness, youdo feel very alone and isolated
.
That's what the illnesses do toyou, or at least that's the
perception that they try andgive you, and I think by getting
people on the show here, youknow it's really going to
highlight that you're not alone.
You know, and I'm not alone too, and I need that reminder often
(09:34):
as well.
So so, yes, the intakeinterview is very important.
If you'd like to get involved,send me a message, no pressure,
but at the same time it would begreat to hear from you.
Speaking of hearing from you.
A few people have messagedrecently through the.
So, if you look at thedescriptions of every episode,
there's a link send me a message, and a few people have sent me
(09:57):
a message through that link,which is awesome.
Thank you for those messages.
The problem is I can't, as faras I can tell, I can't reply to
those messages that get sentthrough the send me a message
prompt, so I'm able to read themand I have read them and it's
been really great.
I've appreciated that sort offeedback and you guys checking
(10:19):
in.
The problem is, though, I don'treally have a way of replying,
as far as I can tell, throughthis function.
So I don't think I'll get ridof the function, because it is
an easy way to just quickly sendsomething through if you'd like
to, but it is a little bitlimited in the fact that I can't
seem to get a reply to you.
So, if you'd like a reply,probably look towards Instagram,
(10:41):
facebook and message me onthere, and again, when I have
the capacity and I'm notcompletely under the pump of
anxiety, I will definitely getback to you.
So, yeah, so just let you know.
For those that have sent me amessage that way, I've received
them but I don't seem to be ableto have a way to reply.
(11:02):
Okay, the Q&A sessions.
The Q&A sessions were meant tostart last week.
Typical Elliot didn't get itout.
That's because I busy week andmy plan is to do the episodes,
I'm hoping, on a Friday the headinto the weekend.
So we've all got something tolisten to over the weekend and
to do it every single Friday.
So it's consistent.
(11:22):
Because you'll know, if you'velistened to this show, how
consistency, like it is in mygeneral life, is a big problem.
So I'm hoping to really use theQ&A sessions as a way to be
consistent.
I've had some great messages orquestions sent in.
Some of them have been quitetricky and you know like the
(11:42):
idea is.
I want to do short and sharpsort of thing.
You know, get a few questions,answer them nice short and sharp
sort of answers and responsesand quite often the question may
, you know, lead to a biggerepisode down the track.
That's a bit more fleshed out,but I do want it to be sort of,
you know, rapid fire, boom, boom, boom.
Here's a well thought outanswer to your question.
(12:04):
But at the same time, you know,that's how I want those
sessions to sort of look so, andthere's a few questions there
that already will and have andare demanding, inherently in the
fact that they're greatquestions that deserve their own
episodes.
So I'll explain that when Ianswer the first lot of
(12:25):
questions shortly.
My plan is to do the Q&Asessions episode, the first one,
the first actual session, todayor tomorrow and get it out to
you guys, and then do the secondone on Friday and then
hopefully follow that sort ofschedule from then on in.
So we'll see how we go.
But like, for example, one ofthe questions it's a great
question, they're all been greatquestions that has been sent in
(12:47):
is it's one about my livedexperience, which is which of
the mental health disorders thatI've got which is the most
challenging to live with andthat deserves, I think, an
episode on its own because it'sa great question.
It's something I've neverreally answered before.
You know, I talk about allthese different mental illnesses
that I've got.
Remember I've got like seven oreight of them, from BPD,
(13:10):
borderline personality, to ADHD,obsessive compulsive disorder,
generalized anxiety disorder,generalized anxiety disorder,
social anxiety disorder.
What else is there?
Autism, recurrent depressiveepisodes, let's say, substance
(13:32):
abuse disorder that's probablythere too.
There's a lot of them and I dotalk about the different
disorders reasonably frequently,but I've never really I don't
think said which, you know, anysort of order of risk I guess
these different mental illnessesfor me personally pose.
So that'll be good, it'll begood to answer that question.
I'm looking forward to it.
The answer I'll answer it intwo ways, but yeah, it sort of
(13:55):
came pretty quickly to me aswell, which I thought was
interesting.
So my little sort of hypothesisabout my own mental illnesses
and the severity and how chronic, debilitating, and how they
infiltrate my life have come outpretty clearly.
So that's, I know there's a bitof insight that I gained as
well.
All right, the last thing is tosay so this week I did some
(14:22):
recording for another podcast,which is called the Better Left
Said Podcast, which is being runthrough the University of
Newcastle, and I'm a part of theproject team as the lived
experience expert or advisor orwhatever you want to call it,
which is awesome.
I've been involved in theco-designing of the, of the um,
(14:43):
the, the investigation, theresearch investigation, um it's.
It's a part of a PhD program,not me, I'm not doing the PhD,
but one of the participants well, not participants.
One of the researchers is it'sher PhD program, but it's also
going to be hopefully publishedas well, depending on what the
(15:05):
results sort of come out with.
So it's basically what we'redoing and I'm so thrilled to be
a part of the team is we'reassessing the, I guess, utility
or the usefulness of a podcastwhen it comes to reaching men
with moderate to severe anxietyor depression.
So this is through the work ofAssociate Professor Dr Miles
(15:28):
Young, who, of course, is mysupervisor.
He was my supervisor when I didmy honours thesis and he's who I
work with at the university,which is awesome.
It's great to have that workingrelationship and that
friendship continue on, andhe'll be coming on the show very
soon to talk about the BetterLeft Said podcast.
(15:48):
And I also want to grill him onwhat it was really like trying
to get me kicking and screamingacross the finish line when I
did my thesis, because I don'tthink I was the easiest of
students that he's had.
But at the same time, we stillwork together now on research
projects.
So I don't know, I must havebeen all right to work with.
But yeah, miles is coming onsoon, which is going to be so
(16:09):
cool.
But the Better Left Saidpodcast.
So I did recording during theweek, like I said, and if you go
on social media you'll seethose posts that I put up there
of me in the recording studiowith the team, which is really
great, but there's some othergreat episodes that have been
recorded.
So if you are a male who hasmoderate to severe depression,
(16:33):
or the belief that you do, whohas moderate to severe
depression or the belief thatyou do, and you would like to
try listening to a podcast, it'snot this one but it's another
one that I'm involved with quiteintimately and I am recorded on
it as well.
I give my reflections aftereach episode from the lived
experience point of view.
If you believe this might besomething you'd like to be a
part of, it doesn't cost anymoney, of course.
(16:57):
It's a great research project.
This is real research that hasreal-world consequences.
If it is shown that a podcastis able to reach this
traditionally very tough cohortto reach, which is men who are
suffering from mood or anxietydisorder, this is huge, moving
(17:21):
forward, huge, and I've got afeeling that it probably will.
I think it will because I knowjust from this podcast that I do
that.
It seems to really work withgetting across to, I guess, both
genders or all genders.
So I guess, anecdotally, frommy work with my own podcast, it
(17:43):
appears podcast platforms seemto do something and better left
said, I'm a part of it as well,and so are so many great experts
in the field.
It's really good.
It's really good information.
So I really encourage all menwho may fit the requirements to
sign up, if you would like to.
(18:06):
After this episode I'm going topost some info up about it on
Instagram and Facebook.
So my suggestion would be tokeep an eye out on Instagram at
elliotttwaters, or on Facebookby searching the Dysregulated
Podcast.
You'll see the page for theshow.
Have a look on there and I willhave posted the information
(18:26):
about getting involved in thatresearch trial.
It's very, very exciting.
We're looking for 40participants to begin with, but
this will, if the first initialtrial, which is almost a pilot
run, if it comes back thatthere's some significance in the
results either way, somewherethere's significance then the
(18:48):
idea is, what usually happens ismore funding is requested and
then this trial is rolled out ummore broadly, uh, in different
waves, and then the results areobviously compared and and then
the the um, conclusions aredrawn from there.
But, yeah, so, 40 participantsto begin with, so you may have
(19:09):
to get in quick but at the sametime, if you don't get in this
time but you'd like to, um,don't worry, there'll be more of
it coming, I'm sure.
So that's the Better Left Saidpodcast, which, yeah, during the
week I recorded an episode, thesecond to last episode, which
is about accessing help througha GP, and I was joined by a
(19:30):
general practitioner, dr CathyO'Grady, as well as Liz Daskam,
who is the PhD student.
So the what's that?
Three, four of us were in theroom having a great conversation
, and it was really good to gether insights into the world of
GPs and how they approach mentalhealth consultations, because
(19:52):
the big thing, the big statisticthat she came away with or I
came away with, as she said, wasthat GPs I don't know if you
knew this, but 71% ofappointments with a GP are
mental health related.
71%, that's heaps, and thattells me there's a lot of people
out there who are sufferingfrom mental ill health.
(20:13):
So that's why it's so importantthat we try different
interventions, novel ways ofreaching out to people, such as
podcast platforms, becausethere's a lot of people out
there who are doing it tough.
So 71% of all appointments inAustralia with a GP are done in
(20:34):
the mental health sort of sideof things.
So I thought that was quitequite well.
Yeah, sort of stunned me alittle bit, I knew it'd be high,
but yeah, that's a lot.
So there you go.
It's not just me, it's not justme and it's not just you either.
There is a lot of us out therewho are going through this and
that's why we need to reallystick together and, you know,
try and help each other getalong, because life's pretty
(20:56):
hard.
It doesn't matter who you are,life is hard and I haven't met
anybody who's got away with it,you know.
So you know we're all got ourown struggles, whether it's a
mental illness or whether it'sjust.
You know, life is being reallydifficult, which it can be,
which can, of course, lead tomental illnesses.
But generally speaking, I justassume that everyone's got
(21:18):
something going on.
So if we can just try and bepretty nice to each other, I
reckon that's a pretty good idea.
All right, that's it for now.
There was a bit in that episode,but yeah, a bit of um admin to
sort of get through what'scoming up very exciting, um.
So I'm going to get on to thatASAP because I've got a bit of
energy, I've got a bit of socialcapacity at the moment.
(21:38):
So I need to hit the groundrunning and take advantage when
I can because, as you know,unfortunately I don't stay in
these good, positive, productivemoods for that long.
So I've got to get into it,I've got to stick with it.
Let's go, let's keep ontrucking.
All right, thank you everybodyfor listening.
I hope you're enjoying the show.
(22:00):
Of course, reach out if you'dlike to be a part of the q a
sessions, reach out if you'dlike to be part of the intake
interview series and just reachout if you'd like to.
In general, just to say goodday, because I encourage that as
well.
All right, thanks everybody,have a good one and I'll see you
next time here on the DishRegulated Podcast.
Good day everybody.
My name is Elliot Waters andyou're listening to the
Dysregulated Podcast.
As always, thank you for tuningin.
If you're enjoying the show,feel free to like, subscribe,
give the show a great rating andyou can share it around with
your mates.
And you can follow me onInstagram at elliotttwaters, and
you can follow the show onFacebook by searching for the
(00:30):
Dysregulated Podcast.
All right, so let's do a littlebit of a check-in.
Most of this episode is goingto be about the podcast itself
and what's coming up ahead and afew things like that.
So that'll be the majority ofthis episode, but I will touch
on my mood just quickly.
(00:51):
Of course, over the last twoweeks I don't have a great deal
to report.
It's sort of been a bit of thewhole same old same old, which
is lots of anxiety, lots ofsocial capacity issues.
There's been some depressivedips, though, I must admit,
which have caught me off guard alittle bit, yesterday not being
(01:12):
a particularly great day, butthen yesterday was a no
stimulant day, so I was very,very flat yesterday.
I wasn't super, super anxious,but I was quite depressed
without that stimulant and Icertainly had no energy and I
did a lot of sleeping.
But the good thing is that thisweek or the end of this week or
last week, I haven't done thewhole stay in bed for like two,
(01:36):
three days thing and then be sopetrified that I can't move once
I wake up again.
That whole little exercisedidn't happen this week or this
one.
Just gone it was yeah.
So yesterday I was sleeping alot but I was still able to get
my meals in and medications andall that sort of stuff, but of
course not the stimulant,because I needed a stimulant
(01:59):
holiday, as you call it, to keepthat tolerance under control.
Actually, there is some badnews regarding my medication,
bad bad news, and I'm going todo a full episode on it soon,
and that episode is titled, orwill be titled, medication
Emergency, because that'sexactly what's going on.
(02:19):
It's not good.
But those with adhd inparticular, who are prescribed
the stimulant, you guys, I thinkwill understand exactly where
I'm coming from.
Uh, with this particularmedication emergency, but that's
coming maybe tomorrow orwednesday, um, but yes, I slept
(02:39):
a lot because of no stimulation.
Um, as I said, the anxietywasn't too bad, don't get me
wrong.
It was there, as it always is,but it didn't go to that next
level, but I was very flat anddepressed.
It was a nice day outside.
I didn't leave the house, it'sthat sort of stuff.
It wasn't particularly fun, butI got through it as best as I
(03:00):
could.
Then today it wasn'tparticularly fun, but I got
through it as best as I could.
And then today we're back onthe stimulant and here we are
doing a podcast episode, andthat's sort of how it happens.
I wouldn't say at this pointthat I'm addicted to the
medication.
I wouldn't.
I don't believe that because Idon't crave it in the sense that
I'm like you know, oh, I can'twait to have my dexamphetamine.
(03:22):
I'm going to feel so high, it'sgoing to be great, I'm just
going to go crazy.
That's not how I think.
I think I can't wait to have mydexamphetamine medication
because then I can actually getup and do something and achieve
something with my day.
So I don't know, maybe that initself is a high and if it is
well, whatever.
But yeah, very dependent on themedications I have to be able to
(03:43):
function at all, which is notgood, and this is why I wanted
to try and get off them.
But, as we know, that hasbecome maybe a bridge too far.
But anyway, that's all right.
That's still evolving, thatsituation.
I'm still a little while awayuntil my next psychiatry
appointment and same as my nextpsychology appointment too.
That's a little bit off.
The reason I haven't been tothe psychologist as much lately
(04:07):
and therefore haven't done a myTherapy Reflections episode
recently is because I don't havethe money.
Because you'll remember, ifyou've been listening to the
show, that I've dropped backhours at work to try and build
up that social capacity and notbe burnt out at the end of each
week, which I'm still not sureif this experiment is coming up
(04:27):
with the results that I washoping for.
But anyway, whatever, it'sstill ongoing.
But the fact is I'm not makingas much money as I was and
unfortunately psychology, or atleast the consistency of me
going to therapy, has been puton hold a bit because I just
can't afford it.
So if there's anyone listeningwho's got a spare I don't know
(04:49):
10 grand, feel free to sponsorthe show.
If you'd like to sponsor theshow, let me know.
That would be great.
Still waiting for a sponsor.
I'm sure one of thesemedication companies would like
to sponsor the show, butunfortunately I've rubbished
their product too often toprobably make it worthwhile for
them.
So I don't know, maybe I'lllook for sponsorship in another
(05:11):
way, anyway, moving on.
So to the stuff that's about thepodcast moving forward.
So the first thing is theintake interview series.
So I am putting the call out.
I think I've done it briefly onthe show already, but I'm doing
it again here now and I'm goingto do an episode on the whole
intake interview series process.
So it's very clear for thosewho want to get on board and
(05:34):
share their story.
But I am putting the call out.
If you'd like to share yourstory of lived experience here
on the show, feel free tomessage me on Instagram, on
Facebook, and I'll get back toyou as soon as I can.
There's a few people that havemessaged through that I haven't
replied to yet, and I reallywant to say this this isn't
(05:56):
because I don't respect yourstory.
Okay, like, the privilege andthe honor to share and showcase
some people's lived experienceon this show is something that's
not lost on me, trust me.
And if you're waiting for areply from me and you're
thinking that I must not give adamn, that's why I haven't
opened your message and done ityet.
That's not the case.
(06:16):
The case is social capacityissues.
So I apologise to those whohave reached out and I haven't
been able to get back to justyet.
I promise when the winds areblowing I'm going to have my
sales set in the right direction.
I'm going to do all the replyingand sending out of emails for
the Intac interviews, becausethis is going to be awesome,
it's going to be great and it'sgoing to be really good to be
(06:40):
able to put your stories outthere in a way that you would
like it to be presented, becauseit's your episode, it's not
mine.
But yeah, I just need thatsocial capacity.
I'm hoping today I'll be ableto reply to people, but even so,
if you listen to this episode,you're wondering where the hell
I've been.
I've been around, but I haven'tbeen very active since the end
(07:03):
of the week because I have beenquite snowed under as far as
social capacity goes.
So my apologies, there's nodisrespect from my behalf.
I just haven't been able tomentally be able to do it yet.
So those replies are comingsoon.
It is also helpful and important, and I'll talk more about this
(07:25):
in the episode dedicated to theinterview series and how it
works.
But it is helpful and importantif you do provide an email
address, because there's a fewdocuments that I send across,
just like a talent release formis one, or my rubric, like a
structured document just to puta bit of structure around the
(07:46):
episode.
I send that one across as well.
That's a Google document thatwe can both access.
So an email address is helpfulbecause then I can send those
attachments along, as well asthe little spiel that I give and
will be giving to all theguests on the show, just to make
(08:10):
sure that you guys know exactlywhat's going on and you're in
control.
It's your story, you're theexpert, it's your episode, and I
cannot wait to listen to yourexperiences and be able to
showcase them here on the show.
It's a real great privilege andI think it'll do the listeners
a lot of good too, because I'vesaid this before and I'll say it
again my story is for better orfor worse is quite broad,
because I've said this beforeand I'll say it again my story
is for better or for worse isquite broad, because I have a
lot of diagnoses, I'm on a lotof medications, I've trialled a
(08:31):
lot of medications and I've donea lot of therapy, but at the
same time, it still is only mystory and my experiences, and
although I can wear a lot ofhats different hats in the
mental health space, I can'twear them all, which is a good
thing, because I think that's.
I don't think my prognosiswould be very good under the
weight of all those hats.
(08:52):
But you guys bring with yousuch unique, awesome experiences
and that contribution to theshow, I think, will just be so
awesome for people listening andmyself to really broaden that
understanding where it comesaround to mental ill health.
So, yeah, there you go, andlots of inspiration as well.
Let's not forget that part andit's important.
(09:13):
I think these episodes areimportant because often when
you've got a mental illness, youdo feel very alone and isolated
.
That's what the illnesses do toyou, or at least that's the
perception that they try andgive you, and I think by getting
people on the show here, youknow it's really going to
highlight that you're not alone.
You know, and I'm not alone too, and I need that reminder often
(09:34):
as well.
So so, yes, the intakeinterview is very important.
If you'd like to get involved,send me a message, no pressure,
but at the same time it would begreat to hear from you.
Speaking of hearing from you.
A few people have messagedrecently through the.
So, if you look at thedescriptions of every episode,
there's a link send me a message, and a few people have sent me
(09:57):
a message through that link,which is awesome.
Thank you for those messages.
The problem is I can't, as faras I can tell, I can't reply to
those messages that get sentthrough the send me a message
prompt, so I'm able to read themand I have read them and it's
been really great.
I've appreciated that sort offeedback and you guys checking
(10:19):
in.
The problem is, though, I don'treally have a way of replying,
as far as I can tell, throughthis function.
So I don't think I'll get ridof the function, because it is
an easy way to just quickly sendsomething through if you'd like
to, but it is a little bitlimited in the fact that I can't
seem to get a reply to you.
So, if you'd like a reply,probably look towards Instagram,
(10:41):
facebook and message me onthere, and again, when I have
the capacity and I'm notcompletely under the pump of
anxiety, I will definitely getback to you.
So, yeah, so just let you know.
For those that have sent me amessage that way, I've received
them but I don't seem to be ableto have a way to reply.
(11:02):
Okay, the Q&A sessions.
The Q&A sessions were meant tostart last week.
Typical Elliot didn't get itout.
That's because I busy week andmy plan is to do the episodes,
I'm hoping, on a Friday the headinto the weekend.
So we've all got something tolisten to over the weekend and
to do it every single Friday.
So it's consistent.
(11:22):
Because you'll know, if you'velistened to this show, how
consistency, like it is in mygeneral life, is a big problem.
So I'm hoping to really use theQ&A sessions as a way to be
consistent.
I've had some great messages orquestions sent in.
Some of them have been quitetricky and you know like the
(11:42):
idea is.
I want to do short and sharpsort of thing.
You know, get a few questions,answer them nice short and sharp
sort of answers and responsesand quite often the question may
, you know, lead to a biggerepisode down the track.
That's a bit more fleshed out,but I do want it to be sort of,
you know, rapid fire, boom, boom, boom.
Here's a well thought outanswer to your question.
(12:04):
But at the same time, you know,that's how I want those
sessions to sort of look so, andthere's a few questions there
that already will and have andare demanding, inherently in the
fact that they're greatquestions that deserve their own
episodes.
So I'll explain that when Ianswer the first lot of
(12:25):
questions shortly.
My plan is to do the Q&Asessions episode, the first one,
the first actual session, todayor tomorrow and get it out to
you guys, and then do the secondone on Friday and then
hopefully follow that sort ofschedule from then on in.
So we'll see how we go.
But like, for example, one ofthe questions it's a great
question, they're all been greatquestions that has been sent in
(12:47):
is it's one about my livedexperience, which is which of
the mental health disorders thatI've got which is the most
challenging to live with andthat deserves, I think, an
episode on its own because it'sa great question.
It's something I've neverreally answered before.
You know, I talk about allthese different mental illnesses
that I've got.
Remember I've got like seven oreight of them, from BPD,
(13:10):
borderline personality, to ADHD,obsessive compulsive disorder,
generalized anxiety disorder,generalized anxiety disorder,
social anxiety disorder.
What else is there?
Autism, recurrent depressiveepisodes, let's say, substance
(13:32):
abuse disorder that's probablythere too.
There's a lot of them and I dotalk about the different
disorders reasonably frequently,but I've never really I don't
think said which, you know, anysort of order of risk I guess
these different mental illnessesfor me personally pose.
So that'll be good, it'll begood to answer that question.
I'm looking forward to it.
The answer I'll answer it intwo ways, but yeah, it sort of
(13:55):
came pretty quickly to me aswell, which I thought was
interesting.
So my little sort of hypothesisabout my own mental illnesses
and the severity and how chronic, debilitating, and how they
infiltrate my life have come outpretty clearly.
So that's, I know there's a bitof insight that I gained as
well.
All right, the last thing is tosay so this week I did some
(14:22):
recording for another podcast,which is called the Better Left
Said Podcast, which is being runthrough the University of
Newcastle, and I'm a part of theproject team as the lived
experience expert or advisor orwhatever you want to call it,
which is awesome.
I've been involved in theco-designing of the, of the um,
(14:43):
the, the investigation, theresearch investigation, um it's.
It's a part of a PhD program,not me, I'm not doing the PhD,
but one of the participants well, not participants.
One of the researchers is it'sher PhD program, but it's also
going to be hopefully publishedas well, depending on what the
(15:05):
results sort of come out with.
So it's basically what we'redoing and I'm so thrilled to be
a part of the team is we'reassessing the, I guess, utility
or the usefulness of a podcastwhen it comes to reaching men
with moderate to severe anxietyor depression.
So this is through the work ofAssociate Professor Dr Miles
(15:28):
Young, who, of course, is mysupervisor.
He was my supervisor when I didmy honours thesis and he's who I
work with at the university,which is awesome.
It's great to have that workingrelationship and that
friendship continue on, andhe'll be coming on the show very
soon to talk about the BetterLeft Said podcast.
(15:48):
And I also want to grill him onwhat it was really like trying
to get me kicking and screamingacross the finish line when I
did my thesis, because I don'tthink I was the easiest of
students that he's had.
But at the same time, we stillwork together now on research
projects.
So I don't know, I must havebeen all right to work with.
But yeah, miles is coming onsoon, which is going to be so
(16:09):
cool.
But the Better Left Saidpodcast.
So I did recording during theweek, like I said, and if you go
on social media you'll seethose posts that I put up there
of me in the recording studiowith the team, which is really
great, but there's some othergreat episodes that have been
recorded.
So if you are a male who hasmoderate to severe depression,
(16:33):
or the belief that you do, whohas moderate to severe
depression or the belief thatyou do, and you would like to
try listening to a podcast, it'snot this one but it's another
one that I'm involved with quiteintimately and I am recorded on
it as well.
I give my reflections aftereach episode from the lived
experience point of view.
If you believe this might besomething you'd like to be a
part of, it doesn't cost anymoney, of course.
(16:57):
It's a great research project.
This is real research that hasreal-world consequences.
If it is shown that a podcastis able to reach this
traditionally very tough cohortto reach, which is men who are
suffering from mood or anxietydisorder, this is huge, moving
(17:21):
forward, huge, and I've got afeeling that it probably will.
I think it will because I knowjust from this podcast that I do
that.
It seems to really work withgetting across to, I guess, both
genders or all genders.
So I guess, anecdotally, frommy work with my own podcast, it
(17:43):
appears podcast platforms seemto do something and better left
said, I'm a part of it as well,and so are so many great experts
in the field.
It's really good.
It's really good information.
So I really encourage all menwho may fit the requirements to
sign up, if you would like to.
(18:06):
After this episode I'm going topost some info up about it on
Instagram and Facebook.
So my suggestion would be tokeep an eye out on Instagram at
elliotttwaters, or on Facebookby searching the Dysregulated
Podcast.
You'll see the page for theshow.
Have a look on there and I willhave posted the information
(18:26):
about getting involved in thatresearch trial.
It's very, very exciting.
We're looking for 40participants to begin with, but
this will, if the first initialtrial, which is almost a pilot
run, if it comes back thatthere's some significance in the
results either way, somewherethere's significance then the
(18:48):
idea is, what usually happens ismore funding is requested and
then this trial is rolled out ummore broadly, uh, in different
waves, and then the results areobviously compared and and then
the the um, conclusions aredrawn from there.
But, yeah, so, 40 participantsto begin with, so you may have
(19:09):
to get in quick but at the sametime, if you don't get in this
time but you'd like to, um,don't worry, there'll be more of
it coming, I'm sure.
So that's the Better Left Saidpodcast, which, yeah, during the
week I recorded an episode, thesecond to last episode, which
is about accessing help througha GP, and I was joined by a
(19:30):
general practitioner, dr CathyO'Grady, as well as Liz Daskam,
who is the PhD student.
So the what's that?
Three, four of us were in theroom having a great conversation
, and it was really good to gether insights into the world of
GPs and how they approach mentalhealth consultations, because
(19:52):
the big thing, the big statisticthat she came away with or I
came away with, as she said, wasthat GPs I don't know if you
knew this, but 71% ofappointments with a GP are
mental health related.
71%, that's heaps, and thattells me there's a lot of people
out there who are sufferingfrom mental ill health.
(20:13):
So that's why it's so importantthat we try different
interventions, novel ways ofreaching out to people, such as
podcast platforms, becausethere's a lot of people out
there who are doing it tough.
So 71% of all appointments inAustralia with a GP are done in
(20:34):
the mental health sort of sideof things.
So I thought that was quitequite well.
Yeah, sort of stunned me alittle bit, I knew it'd be high,
but yeah, that's a lot.
So there you go.
It's not just me, it's not justme and it's not just you either.
There is a lot of us out therewho are going through this and
that's why we need to reallystick together and, you know,
try and help each other getalong, because life's pretty
(20:56):
hard.
It doesn't matter who you are,life is hard and I haven't met
anybody who's got away with it,you know.
So you know we're all got ourown struggles, whether it's a
mental illness or whether it'sjust.
You know, life is being reallydifficult, which it can be,
which can, of course, lead tomental illnesses.
But generally speaking, I justassume that everyone's got
(21:18):
something going on.
So if we can just try and bepretty nice to each other, I
reckon that's a pretty good idea.
All right, that's it for now.
There was a bit in that episode,but yeah, a bit of um admin to
sort of get through what'scoming up very exciting, um.
So I'm going to get on to thatASAP because I've got a bit of
energy, I've got a bit of socialcapacity at the moment.
(21:38):
So I need to hit the groundrunning and take advantage when
I can because, as you know,unfortunately I don't stay in
these good, positive, productivemoods for that long.
So I've got to get into it,I've got to stick with it.
Let's go, let's keep ontrucking.
All right, thank you everybodyfor listening.
I hope you're enjoying the show.
(22:00):
Of course, reach out if you'dlike to be a part of the q a
sessions, reach out if you'dlike to be part of the intake
interview series and just reachout if you'd like to.
In general, just to say goodday, because I encourage that as
well.
All right, thanks everybody,have a good one and I'll see you
next time here on the DishRegulated Podcast.
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