Grief, Pills, and Finding the Way Back: Brooke Siem on Life After Meds

From Burnout to the Veg Patch: Kathy Slack on Depression, Values and Redefining Success

Host Katinka Blackford Newman speaks with Kathy Slack, author of the memoir Rough Patch, about her breakdown after a decade in high-pressure London advertising that looked successful on paper but left her burned out and depressed. Kathy describes cognitive fog, heightened senses, grief-like sorrow, and being signed off work, then trying antidepressants, sleeping pills, CBT, acupuncture, and meditation. She recalls months barely able to leave her bedroom amid relentless self-criticism, until sitting by neglected raised beds led her back outside; growing vegetables brought moments of calm, awe, agency, creativity, and a new sense of what is “real.” The conversation explores misaligned values, perfectionism, self-care, and shifting from a career “ladder” to “lily pads,” plus Kathy’s move into organic kitchen gardening, cookery teaching, writing, and the hope and connection she aims readers to take from Rough Patch. 00:00 Podcast Welcome 00:21 Meet Kathy Slack 01:24 Perfect Life Cracks 03:36 Burnout Turns Physical 06:38 Doctor Visit Breakdown 08:06 Values Mismatch Realization 12:57 Signed Off and Treatments 16:31 Inside Depression Spiral 21:36 Garden First Relief 22:55 Hooked on Growing 25:03 Nature as Medicine 27:19 Garden Values Shift 30:57 Self Care and Food 32:53 Finding Purpose 35:03 Lily Pad Mindset 38:51 Career Pivot to Veg 41:58 Life Now and Wales 44:44 Talking Heals 45:47 Breakdown as Gift 47:33 Hopeful Takeaways 48:59 Outro and Links

Did Medication Cause My Dad to Kill? | Jessica Barrett

In her first in-depth interview, Jessica Barrett shares the devastating story of losing her twin sisters and how her family later came to believe that akathisia, a recognised adverse drug reaction linked to antidepressants and other medications, played a significant role in the tragedy Host Katinka Blackford Newman interviews Jessica Barrett (Nee Crespi), daughter of David Crespi, who in 2006 killed his five-year-old twin daughters in what Jessica describes as a prescription-drug-induced state after a two-week medication escalation that included Prozac, Trazodone, Ambien and one night of Lunesta, alongside an antibiotic. Jessica recounts her close childhood relationship with her father, his intermittent stress-related insomnia and medication cycles, the day she learned of the deaths, and seeing him in apparent psychosis. She explains how her mother’s research, including Peter Breggin’s Medication Madness, led the family to suspect a drug reaction and akathisia, and discusses his plea deal, prison medication changes, eventual tapering, and their ongoing grief, forgiveness, and hope that others will question and closely monitor psychiatric medications. Jessica's faith has helped her come to terms with what happened and she now co-hosts the Something... About Catholics podcast on Spotify. For more information about antidepressant harm, withdrawal and informed consent, visit the not-for-profit organisation founded by host Katinka Blackford Newman - www.antidepressantrisks.org Katinka is also an accredited life coach helping people go from stuck to unstoppable. Find out more at www.kbnlifecoaching.co.uk 00:00 Jessica’s Story Begins 00:51 A Normal Childhood 03:51 Dad’s Stress and Med Cycles 07:46 The Drug Cocktail Before 09:09 The Day Everything Changed 13:34 Aftermath and First Visit 17:30 Akathisia and Medication Clues 24:02 Trial and Life Sentences 26:20 Grief and Returning to School 30:21 Stopping Meds in Prison 33:00 Remembering and Reframing 35:53 Justice and Ongoing Impact 40:26 Forgiveness and Her Own Reaction 42:58 Book Publicity and Lessons 44:24 Final Takeaways and Outro

The Truth About Sleeping Pills and Insomnia | Professor Colin Espie

Host Katinka Blackford Newman speaks with sleep and insomnia expert Professor Colin Espie about why cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is recommended as first-line treatment over medication. Espie explains how insomnia is perpetuated by frustration, threat-based arousal, and catastrophic thinking, and why sedative drugs don’t reproduce normal sleep, can lose effectiveness, carry dependency risks, and increase risks such as falls in later life. He outlines CBT techniques including cognitive restructuring, paradoxical intention, and the behavioral approach of sleep restriction therapy, citing research showing strong outcomes when delivered in primary care. Espie discusses Sleepio, his fully automated digital CBT program with a NICE guideline and NHS availability in Scotland, and points listeners to his book Overcoming Insomnia and resources from The Sleep Charity. 00:00 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TeEa3wz1U] Welcome and Guest Intro 00:59 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TeEa3wz1U&t=59s] Colin’s Path to Sleep Science 01:46 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TeEa3wz1U&t=106s] Why CBT Beats Pills 03:19 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TeEa3wz1U&t=199s] The Insomnia Paradox 04:55 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TeEa3wz1U&t=295s] How Insomnia Becomes Chronic 07:43 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TeEa3wz1U&t=463s] Why Sleeping Pills Fall Short 11:20 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TeEa3wz1U&t=680s] Dependency and Long Term Risks 14:13 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TeEa3wz1U&t=853s] Stress Arousal and 4AM Panic 17:32 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TeEa3wz1U&t=1052s] CBT Tools Cognitive Restructuring 21:24 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TeEa3wz1U&t=1284s] Paradoxical Intention Explained 25:54 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TeEa3wz1U&t=1554s] Sleep Hygiene Myths and Basics 28:40 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TeEa3wz1U&t=1720s] Sleep Restriction Therapy 32:22 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TeEa3wz1U&t=1942s] Medication Addiction and Access 35:28 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TeEa3wz1U&t=2128s] Sleepio Digital CBT Program 37:39 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TeEa3wz1U&t=2259s] Colin’s Own Sleep and Trusting Sleep 40:11 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TeEa3wz1U&t=2411s] Resources and Closing

Inside Psychiatry: Why one NHS Consultant Walked Away. Interview with Dr Clive Sherlock

Former NHS Psychiatrist Dr. Clive Sherlock on Drug Harm, Withdrawal, and “Adaptation Practice” Host Katinka Blackford Newman interviews Dr. Clive Sherlock, a medically trained doctor and former NHS psychiatrist, about why he began questioning mainstream psychiatry, realising there was no discovered or published biological cause of conditions like depression, and later facing managerial pressure to prescribe drugs, which led him to resign despite losing income, status, and pension. He describes harms he observed from psychiatric drugs, including sexual dysfunction that persisted after stopping, sedation and loss of vitality, and suicides on the ward. After studying philosophy, he trained in Buddhist-informed approaches focused on emotion, learning to locate feelings physically in the midrift and “bear” them rather than suppress, distract, or overthink. He outlines key pillars of his “adaptation practice,” including daily structure, prompt responding, wholehearted action, and gradually building tolerance for distress, and explains that most clients now seek help tapering and withdrawing from psychiatric drugs. He shares how the practice made him calmer and reduced resentment, and directs listeners to adaptationpractice.org. 00:00 Welcome to Med Free 00:32 Meet Dr Clive Sherlock 01:11 Questioning Psychiatry Origins 03:59 Pressure to Prescribe 05:48 Drug Harms Witnessed 08:44 Turning to Buddhism 10:12 Feeling Emotions in Body 13:03 Bearing vs Avoiding Feelings 16:46 Adaptation Practice Basics 22:23 Who He Helps Now 23:29 Tapering and Withdrawal Support 29:49 Akathisia and Gradual Bearing 31:27 Why It's Called Adaptation 32:14 Personal Transformation 35:31 Emotion as Life Energy 36:40 Where to Learn More 37:01 Closing Thanks and Outro

The $31 Million Pharma Whistleblower | Blair Hamrick on Big Pharma

What happens when telling the truth costs you everything… and then changes everything? In this episode of The Med Free Mental Fitness Podcast, host Katinka Blackford Newman speaks to whistleblower Blair Hamrick, a former pharmaceutical sales representative who took on GlaxoSmithKline and helped expose one of the largest healthcare fraud cases in history. His testimony contributed to a $3 billion settlement with the US government. Under whistleblower law, he received $31 million. But this is not a story about money. It is a story about integrity, pressure, risk, and what it takes to stand up inside a system that rewards silence. Blair describes what he saw from the inside of the pharmaceutical industry, the moment he began to question it, and what followed when he chose to act. We talk about the culture of sales, the human cost of misinformation, and the personal consequences of stepping out of line. This conversation sits at the heart of a wider question: what happens when the systems we trust are not as they seem, and what does it take to face that honestly? • What life is really like as a pharmaceutical sales rep • The moment Blair began to question what he was being asked to do • How the whistleblowing process works in practice • The $3 billion settlement and what it represented • The personal and professional risks of speaking out • What this reveals about the wider culture of Big Pharma • Integrity, consequences, and the price of telling the truth Katinka Blackford Newman is a life coach, journalist and founder of the not for profit, Antidepressant Risks.