Healing, Trauma & Disassociation | Surviving Sexual Assault & Child Abuse w/ Kristi Morris Artwork

Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! | Dark-Humor Conversations On Serious Mental Illness & Trauma

If you live with mental illness—or love someone who does—and you’re tired of sugar-coated wellness talk, this show is for you!

"Beat The Mental Health Out Of It!" blends dark humor with real recovery so you feel seen, steadied, and a little lighter. We tell it like it is, so you don’t have to.

Hosted by Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) and often joined by co-host Tony Medeiros ("IndyPocket"), this is a brutally honest mental health podcast about what it’s actually like to live with serious mental illness on the schizophrenia spectrum. We talk schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia, psychosis, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, BPD, PTSD, addiction, religious trauma, bad therapy, psych wards, meds, disability, and trying to build a life in a system that isn’t built for us. You’ll get:

– Lived-experience truth from someone who hears voices, dissociates, relapses, parents, plays music, and still shows up.

– Grounded insight from a mental health professional who has sat across from hundreds of clients and worked inside the system.

– Edgy, stigma-smashing, sometimes controversial conversations about mental illness, relationships, family dysfunction, religion, work, creativity, and survival.

– Challenging takeaways and coping ideas you can actually try—along with laughs that punch up, down, left, right… everywhere.

This show is for people juggling therapy, meds, trauma, and everyday chaos who want honest talk, gallows humor, and zero judgment. Whether you’re schizoaffective, living with schizophrenia or psychosis, dealing with PTSD, supporting a loved one, or just trying not to lose your mind, "Beat The Mental Health Out Of It!" gives you language, community, and brutally honest hope.

We’re not your therapists—we’re fellow passengers on “The Struggle Bus,” sharing what we’ve learned the hard way and refusing to suffer in silence.

All Episodes

Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! | Dark-Humor Conversations On Serious Mental Illness & Trauma

Healing, Trauma & Disassociation | Surviving Sexual Assault & Child Abuse w/ Kristi Morris

August 25, 2025 • Nicholas Wichman - Mental Health Advocate • Season 1 • Episode 21

In this episode, we delve into how sexual assault, childhood abuse, and early dissociation shape trust, identity, and coping mechanisms in trauma recovery—a survivor’s poignant story shared by Kristi Morris.

Join us for a candid discussion on the importance of language and validation in healing, and learn how finding safety is essential in navigating the aftermath of trauma. This is Part 1 of a 2-Part series.

In this episode, Kristi shares her journey through an unsafe home environment and the mistrust toward men that developed. She discusses how she used dissociation as a survival strategy and how immersing into a fantasy world provided an escape.

We cover:

Unhealthy home dynamics and caretaking burdens experienced before age 15
Dissociation as a survival mechanism and steps toward grounding
Using a fantasy world as a protective escape
The critical role of language and validation in the trauma recovery process
Resilience: how to face the past without erasing it

If this helped, share it with someone who needs to feel less alone, join our Discord "The Struggle Bus" (link below)—and FOLLOW us, so you don’t miss next week's episode with Kristi!

If you’re struggling, please reach out to the following resources (U.S.): Call/Text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 24/7) or contact RAINN at 800-656-HOPE

Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! is a candid mental health podcast with lived experience—schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia spectrum psychosis, BPD, PTSD, trauma recovery, coping skills, and dark humor that fights stigma.

Hosted by Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) with frequent co-host Tony Medeiros, ("IndyPocket"), we talk serious mental illness, psych wards, religious trauma, bad therapy, meds, disability, and messy real-world coping.

New episodes drop every other Monday at 6am ET.

Want community and support? Join our Discord, “The Struggle Bus”: https://discord.gg/emFXKuWKNA

All links (TikTok, YouTube, Streaming, etc.): https://linktr.ee/BTMHOOI

Podcast cover art by Ryan Manning