Laura Delano

Thanks, Dr. Drew. It's great to be here.

Thanks, Dr. Drew. It's great to be here.

so i was an intense sensitive um big feeling kid and at age 13 ended up having um what i now see was a profound kind of crisis of self where i realized you know i don't I really know who I am. I'm just performing these roles in school. And I had this total collapse internally where I just, I felt convinced that I didn't have, I didn't know who I was and I didn't have an authentic sense of self.

so i was an intense sensitive um big feeling kid and at age 13 ended up having um what i now see was a profound kind of crisis of self where i realized you know i don't I really know who I am. I'm just performing these roles in school. And I had this total collapse internally where I just, I felt convinced that I didn't have, I didn't know who I was and I didn't have an authentic sense of self.

And so that eventually led me to begin.

And so that eventually led me to begin.

Yeah, seriously.

Yeah, seriously.

Yes.

Yes.

But you see, Dr. Drew, this happened at a very opportune moment in the history of adolescent psychiatry. This was in the mid-90s. So you probably recall there was this huge push at the time to take angry, irritable, despairing kids and give them a bipolar diagnosis. And so that's what happened to me at age 14. Mm-hmm.

But you see, Dr. Drew, this happened at a very opportune moment in the history of adolescent psychiatry. This was in the mid-90s. So you probably recall there was this huge push at the time to take angry, irritable, despairing kids and give them a bipolar diagnosis. And so that's what happened to me at age 14. Mm-hmm.

And so what, you know, was in retrospect, I see a very typical, if intense version of adolescence. You know, I was cutting myself and I eventually was talking about and thinking about death. And, you know, I was an extreme teenager. I needed help and my parents were overwhelmed. So I ended up getting this diagnosis within an hour of meeting a psychiatrist who I'd never spoken to before.

And so what, you know, was in retrospect, I see a very typical, if intense version of adolescence. You know, I was cutting myself and I eventually was talking about and thinking about death. And, you know, I was an extreme teenager. I needed help and my parents were overwhelmed. So I ended up getting this diagnosis within an hour of meeting a psychiatrist who I'd never spoken to before.

I just poured out all my pain to her and she concluded I had this incurable mental illness called bipolar disorder and that began what was a nearly decade and a half relationship with the mental health industry. And with each passing year that I invested more and more deeply in this idea that I was sick and that my difficulties were all symptoms of this illness.

I just poured out all my pain to her and she concluded I had this incurable mental illness called bipolar disorder and that began what was a nearly decade and a half relationship with the mental health industry. And with each passing year that I invested more and more deeply in this idea that I was sick and that my difficulties were all symptoms of this illness.

And two meds became three, three became four, four became five. My life just began to fall more and more apart. And every step of the way, my parents and I were being told that my illness was just progressing. And eventually I reached the point where

And two meds became three, three became four, four became five. My life just began to fall more and more apart. And every step of the way, my parents and I were being told that my illness was just progressing. And eventually I reached the point where

I was declared treatment resistant because I was basically the story, you know, was I was just so sick that even all these, this great treatment and all these great hospitals, because I was going to the top doctors at the top institutions in New England, you know, even all of that wasn't able to help me.

I was declared treatment resistant because I was basically the story, you know, was I was just so sick that even all these, this great treatment and all these great hospitals, because I was going to the top doctors at the top institutions in New England, you know, even all of that wasn't able to help me.