From Aotearoa / NZ, this is an excellent podcast series of first-person accounts .

In each of the seven episodes of Out of My Mind, one person talks to journalist Adam Dudding about their life, and the view from inside their head. These first person dispatches from the front lines of mental health are moving, yet also full of moments of surprise, tenderness and humour.

https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2019/08/out-of-my-mind-podcast/

1 | Angels and Demons – Egan Bidois

I remember the doctor saying to my parents: 

‘Your son Egan? He’s not coming home. He’s completely untreatable.’

 And I remember the look in my parents’ eyes:
it was the look of someone’s hope dying. 

Egan Bidois

Listen: https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2019/08/out-of-my-mind-podcast/#episode-one

2 | The Paroxetine Diaries – Ashleigh Young 

I’ve tried a lot of things: Meditation. Hot yoga. Cycling. Saunas. Cold showers. More sleep. Less sleep. Acupuncture. Therapy.
I tried giving up caffeine and it was awful!
I believe in the power of a cup of tea.

Ashleigh Young

Listen: https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2019/08/out-of-my-mind-podcast/#episode-two

3 | Crossing the lines – “Hanna Smith” 

That damned voice was going round in my head:

‘Why can’t you do this?
Other mothers manage to defrost chicken without burning down the house.

And sure,
they get angry at their kids
but they don’t lash out.’

“Hanna Smith”

Listen: https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2019/08/out-of-my-mind-podcast/#episode-three

4 | Fight or flight – Jami-Lee Ross 

We put ourselves in glossy brochures,
looking the perfect picture
of what we want the public to believe we are.

It wasn’t until it all exploded
that I realised what was going on in my head.” 

Jami-Lee Ross

Listen: https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2019/08/out-of-my-mind-podcast/#episode-four

5 | Another Realm – Karlo Mila

When my father arrived
his face morphed into something devil-like.

People that I loved shape-shifted right in front of me.

And you can’t stop it just because you don’t believe it’s true.

 

Karlo Mila

Listen: https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2019/08/out-of-my-mind-podcast/#episode-five

6 | Harvey Milk and The Dinosaurs – Andy Cawston

The Foreign Legion parachute out of aeroplanes, fight wars and slither through jungles,

and for some people
that might have some appeal.

But for me it was an opportunity to reboot and start again.

Andy Cawston

Listen: https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2019/08/out-of-my-mind-podcast/#episode-six

7 | Barbed Wire – Taimi Allan

One place was like the best Betty Ford Clinic
– all tempura fish and espressos
and people walking around
with floaty scarves.

And then there was the other extreme,
with padded walls
and barbed-wire fences.

Taimi Allan

Listen: https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2019/08/out-of-my-mind-podcast/#episode-seven