For decades, addiction treatment has promoted a one-size-fits-all approach—but what if that's part of the problem? In this episode of The Gaslit Truth Podcast, I sit down with former Intervention cast member Michael Gonzales to challenge recovery's biggest myths and explore why honesty, harm reduction, and individualized care may save more lives than rigid rules ever will.

Can psychiatric medications deplete the very nutrients your brain needs to function? In this candid episode of The Gaslit Truth Podcast, Dr. Teralyn and I explore nutrient depletion, micronutrient testing, SSRI withdrawal, and practical strategies to support the nervous system during deprescribing. We also discuss how symptoms of nutrient depletion can often mimic what gets labeled as depression, anxiety, or brain fog. If you've ever wondered why tapering feels so difficult, or whether or not you ACTUALLY have a mental illness, this conversation is for you!

The addiction world sells hope — but if you or someone you love has ever searched “rehab near me,” you know how overwhelming it can be trying to figure out what’s real, what works, and who truly has your best interest in mind.

On this episode of The Gaslit Truth Podcast, I sit down with Ronnie Costa, recovery coach and chemical dependency counselor, to talk about addiction, recovery, and the parts of the treatment industry many people never hear about.

Everyone is celebrating a new push for informed consent in mental healthcare. My question is: where was informed consent before? In this episode, Dr. Teralyn Sell and I unpack psychiatric overprescribing, medication withdrawal, therapist training gaps, and why true patient choice requires more than a signature on a consent form.

The addiction and mental health industries have a HUGE problem that no one wants to talk about. In the latest episode of The Gaslit Truth Podcast, I sat down with Dr. Cali Estes to talk about the uncomfortable realities inside the addiction treatment industry. It’s gross. It’s real. And as a therapist trained in addiction, I never knew this shit existed.

Dr. Cali Estes is a global leader in addiction recovery who has trained tens of thousands of professionals, but she’s also lived this personally. And right now, she’s filming an upcoming Netflix series exposing the addiction and mental health industry and many of the exact issues we discussed in this episode.

What is the #1 thing I learned from hosting the most recent episode of The Gaslit Truth Podcast? People walk into family court carrying a lot of assumptions that simply do not match reality. Just because you think you should have 50/50 custody of your child doesn’t mean you are right.

In the latest episode, I sat down with award-winning Austin family law attorney Jason Wright, and this conversation was one giant reality check. Not because Jason is cold or dismissive. Actually, he is the opposite. He’s incredibly direct about the difference between what feels emotionally true and what actually matters in court.

That distinction is where a lot of people get blindsided.

Honestly, this episode is one I wish more people would hear before they spend thousands of dollars, spiral from internet advice, or walk into court expecting validation they may never receive there.

If you’re navigating divorce, custody, or high-conflict co-parenting, listen to this one! And if you know someone stuck in the emotional chaos of family court TikTok or Reddit rabbit holes, send this episode their way.

Sometimes the truth isn’t comforting — but it is clarifying.

And that’s exactly what we do on The Gaslit Truth Podcast.

There’s a conversation happening around GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and tirzepatide that feels strangely one-sided.

These medications are being marketed as breakthrough solutions for weight loss, and I understand why people are interested. So many people are exhausted by dieting and desperate for something that finally works. But on this episode of The Gaslit Truth Podcast, I wanted to slow the conversation down and ask harder questions.

I sat down again with Dr. Josh Hellman, a Harvard-trained physician and lifestyle medicine expert, for one of the most honest conversations I’ve heard yet about peptides and GLP-1 agonists. Not fear-mongering. Not pharmaceutical hype. Just a real discussion about what patients deserve to know before starting these medications.

One thing we talked about is how the body is not a simple math equation. Weight loss is about far more than eating less. Hormones, metabolism, muscle preservation, inflammation, and brain chemistry all matter — and when we artificially push one pathway hard enough, there can be trade-offs.

We discussed what peptides actually are, why dose and delivery matter, and how GLP-1 drugs can push signaling far beyond normal physiology. We also talked about the side effects that often get minimized: nausea and vomiting from slowed gastric emptying, gallbladder disease and pancreatitis risks, and the reality that “weight loss” can also mean significant muscle loss.

I’ll be honest, this is one of those conversations I really wish more people were having out loud.

On this episode of The Gaslit Truth Podcast, Dr. Teralyn Sell and I sat down with Dr. Mel Pohl to talk about chronic pain in a way that actually respects what people are going through. Because what I see over and over again is people getting dismissed before they ever get real help. You’re told your scans are “fine” or that it’s “just anxiety,” and suddenly you’re left holding very real pain while also starting to question yourself.

That’s a tough place to be.

What we wanted to do in this episode was bring some honesty and clarity to the conversation. Chronic pain isn’t just about tissue damage. The brain and nervous system play a huge role in keeping that pain signal going, even after an injury has healed. That doesn’t mean the pain isn’t real. It means your system has learned a pattern and it’s still running it.

I’m going to say something that might irritate you a bit: if your gums are receding, your teeth are failing, or your bone density is dropping, and the only answer you’ve been given is “brush better” or “that’s just aging,” you’re not being treated, you’re being dismissed.

On this episode of The Gaslit Truth Podcast, Dr. Teralyn Sell and I go straight at something I see often in my therapy office: people doing everything “right” and still watching their oral health fall apart. That’s not random, and it’s not just aging. Especially when I’m working with people on or coming off psychiatric medications, or those carrying a heavy toxic load, the pattern is too consistent to ignore.

I’m 2.5 years into tapering off Lexapro. YES - you read that accurately….2.5 YEARS. If you had asked me at the beginning what this would look like, I would have given you the same answer most of us are given: a few uncomfortable weeks, maybe a bump in anxiety, then done. That’s what we’re told. The drug “leaves your body,” so withdrawal should be short, right?

That hasn’t been my reality. Not even close.

What I’ve lived through is something very different—something people don’t talk about enough, something many doctors still don’t fully acknowledge: protracted withdrawal. And in the latest episode of The Gaslit Truth Podcast, I’m getting brutally honest about what that actually looks like.

Because here’s the part that messes with your head: you stop or taper off an SSRI, and maybe at first things seem manageable. Then weeks or months later, your sleep collapses. Your anxiety ramps up in a way that feels chemical, not situational and akathisia sets in. Your body starts hurting in ways that don’t make sense. Your nervous system feels like it’s been plugged into an outlet. And when you go back for help, you’re told it must be your “condition” returning.

That gap—between what you were promised and what you’re actually living—is where protracted withdrawal hides. And it’s a lonely, disorienting place to be.

Let me say something that might make you uncomfortable: sometimes what gets labeled as “stress” or “falling out of love” isn’t that simple—and getting that wrong can cost you everything. In my recent conversation with Sabrina Lane from Loving Through the Storm, we talked about how easily a life can unravel from one seemingly reasonable decision. Her story started the way so many do: a therapist suggesting Lexapro at a specific dose to “take the edge off.” It sounded harmless, responsible even. But what followed was a cascade—medication changes, emotional blunting, and a slow shift in personality that eventually led to something devastating: her partner saying he felt nothing for her anymore. Not anger, not conflict—just nothing. That’s the moment that stops people in their tracks, and yet so often the explanation they’re given is, “sometimes people just fall out of love.” But what if that’s not the full picture?

In my latest episode of The Gaslit Truth Podcast, I sat down with Aaron Gilbert, founder of Boston Evening Therapy Associates, to get real about boundaries in therapy. Therapy doesn’t fall apart because clients don’t care—it falls apart because therapists don’t hold the line. Missed sessions get waved off, late cancellations aren’t charged, and money conversations are avoided. That’s not kindness. That’s confusion. If I’m not clear about what the session is worth, what happens if you don’t show up, or how this process works, then what are you really committing to? Therapy isn’t just what happens in the hour—it’s whether the hour matters at all.

I’m going to say something that a lot of people in the addiction world don’t want you to hear:

Addiction is not purely biological. And the insistence that it is? That’s gaslighting.

Yes, your brain is involved. But reducing addiction to a defective brain or a lifelong disease you’re powerless over isn’t just incomplete—it’s disempowering.

Some conversations don’t leave you, and this was one of them. In this episode of The Gaslit Truth Podcast, Naomi shares the story of her husband, John—who was prescribed psychiatric medication by his own brother, a physician. What was meant to help ultimately caused harm.

Sorry, I'm Bipolar, Kanye West's Public Apology: legitimate or PR Stunt | The Gaslit Truth Podcast with Dr Teralyn Sell and Therapist Jenn Schmitz — JENN SCHMITZ, MS

Dr Josef Witt Doerring Deprescribing Psychiatry | Dr Teralyn Sell, Therapist Jenn Schmitz - The Gaslit Truth Podcast

On this episode of The Gaslit Truth Podcast, Dr. Teralyn Sell and I tackled something I see ALL THE TIME in my therapy office:

Spouses diagnosing each other.

Let me say this clearly—stop pretending you’re a therapist. You’re not. And your partner is not your case study.

When you label them, push meds, send them podcasts, or demand they “do the work,” that’s not support. That’s control dressed up as concern. And it kills trust and intimacy.

So many partners come in convinced: If they’d just get treated, we’d be fine. But what if the symptoms improve and you’re still resentful? Still critical? The Gottman Institute has long warned us—contempt and chronic criticism predict divorce, not diagnoses.

And let’s talk about the medication mandate. Antidepressants aren’t a relationship repair strategy. In fact, they ruin more marriages than they help. They can blunt emotion, impact libido, and shift connection. That requires informed consent—not an ultimatum.

If you’ve caught yourself thinking, Fix yourself so I can be happy, I say this with love: that’s not intimacy.

What works better?
Own your side.
Make specific agreements.
Set clear boundaries.
Go to therapy for you—not to weaponize a label against your spouse.

Choose curiosity over control. It will take you much further and protect your marriage. Want to know more? Click below and listen now!

Therapists...Trained Martyrs | Dr Teralyn Sell and Therapist Jenn Schmitz | The Gaslit Truth Podcast

I’m Jenn, co-host of The Gaslit Truth Podcast—and this episode left me unsettled in all the right ways.

Dr. Teralyn Sell and I sat down with medical journalist Rob Wipond, author of Your Consent Is Not Required, to talk about something most people assume could never happen to them: losing their freedom in the name of “care.”

Rob shares how his father’s vulnerable moment after cancer surgery spiraled into months of involuntary psychiatric treatment—heavy drugs, ECT, and no meaningful consent. From there, we widen the lens: vague standards like “grave disability,” crisis-line escalations, and institutional habits that blur the line between safety and control.

We dig into the reality of 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline—how a call marketed as confidential support can escalate to police dispatch and hospitalization. Most people don’t realize conversations may be recorded, analyzed for “risk,” and used to justify intervention.

Inside hospitals, many patients report a compliance-first culture: take the meds, say the right things, get released. Refuse—and your stay may stretch on. Some have even said jail felt more predictable than indefinite psychiatric holds. That should make all of us pause.

This isn’t left vs. right. It’s about whether coercion, dressed up as compassion, actually helps—or quietly erodes trust and discourages people from seeking support when they need it most.

If we care about mental health and civil rights, we need real informed consent, transparency, and crisis options people can trust.