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In Our Nature
Absolutely everything is interconnected in astonishing dynamic ways that we are only beginning to understand, including our mental and planetary wellbeing.
The In Our Nature explores these connections, along with the unseen but profoundly influential currents, systems, cycles, patterns, stories, and constructs that shape both our inner lives and the world around us.
Why are we the way we are? Why are we treating the world and each other in the ways we do? Why do we feel so rubbish? Is this in our nature? What's going on?
Join me, Siobhán Friel, your host and fellow wanderer, as we curiously fondle the places where environmental, societal, historical, ecological and mythological contexts meet and mingle.
The In Our Nature pod wants to shed light on the hidden connections and deeper patterns that are shaping this extraordinary time we are in, helping us see more clearly as we make our way forth. Come and join me.
In Our Nature
We’ve Made up What Mental Illness Is (And Who Decides What’s Normal Anyway?)
In today's episode we are exploring how our concepts of mental health and illness are not fixed truths but socially constructed ideas. What’s normal and what’s not is made up via thought and is always changing.
Those with a diagnosis that doesn’t feel quite right might especially like this episode, along with those who always feel a bit out of place or like they don’t fit in with ‘normal people’ (like me)
Join me to meander through:
- My bent-double moment of laughing in the bathroom that inspired the episode
- How everything in society has “Rules” which are completely made up with our thoughts (but still have real-world implications)
- Who decides what’s ‘normal’ and what’s a disorder anyway, and why this matters
- How this relates specifically to anxiety disorders, panic disorders, eating disorders and more
- Why recognising the constructed nature of our diagnoses is pretty cool for personal and collective freedom.
- A few funnies from the past
- And Anxious Alice has an insight around this in the realm of parenting
Mentioned:
If Books Could Kill - The Rules
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Thanks for listening. You rock.
