Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! | Dark Humor Conversations On Mental Health, Trauma & Society
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! (AKA “BTMHOOI!”) is a candid mental health podcast rooted in lived experience, dark humor, and honest conversation. We tell it like it is, so you don’t have to. Hosted by Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) and frequently joined by co-host Tony Medeiros (“IndyPocket”), a music therapist and fellow drummer, we have brutally honest conversations about serious mental illness, trauma, and the societal systems that shape mental health. Topics include schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia-spectrum psychosis, bipolar disorder, BPD, PTSD, depression, anxiety, addiction recovery, suicide survival, religious trauma, psychiatric medication, disability, therapy (good and bad), psych wards, coping skills, and the real-world pressures that make recovery harder than it needs to be. You’ll hear: Lived-experience perspective from someone navigating psychosis, relapse, parenting, and recovery in real time. No-BS conversations about what helps, what doesn’t, and what stigma and “awareness culture” get wrong. Dark humor and storytelling that educates and humanizes instead of sensationalizing. Interviews with everyday people, professionals, and notable guests, because mental health struggles don’t care who you are. This show is for anyone trying to survive therapy, meds, trauma, and everyday chaos — or trying to understand a loved one who is. If you want language for what you’re experiencing, conversations that don’t flinch, and a judgment-free vibe with some laughs along the way, you’re in the right place. 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. “Don’t look to the bottle, the knife for the gun… Look to the soul you’ll become!”
Episodes
What if the feed isn’t just stealing your time, but quietly reshaping culture, identity, and how we see each other?
In this episode of Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! (AKA “BTMHOOI!”), we take a hard look at how social media evolved from connection into a monetized outrage economy. Algorithms reward anger, flatten nuance, and turn public discourse into performance, while the quiet middle gets drowned out.
We trace the shift from th...
Forgiveness isn’t “forgive and forget.” Real forgiveness doesn’t erase what happened — it helps you stop the past from controlling your present.
In this episode of Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! (AKA “BTMHOOI!”), Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) and co-host Tony Medeiros (“IndyPocket”) get brutally honest about what forgiveness looks like when real harm has happened: not excusing it, not minimizing it, and not b...
What happens when your sport doesn’t just beat up your body — it starts changing your brain?
Olympic bobsledder and mental health advocate William Person joins Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) and co-host Tony Medeiros (“IndyPocket”) for a raw conversation about repeated crashes, concussion fallout, suspected CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), and the terrifying mental spiral that can follow: panic, memory los...
School culture can either protect kids — or quietly break them.
In Part 2 with Mike and Jeff, Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) and co-host Tony Medeiros (“IndyPocket”) go deeper on what it actually takes to build safer, more supportive schools. This isn’t vague “be kinder” talk. It’s a real conversation about empathy, respect, accountability, and culture change — the stuff that prevents harm before it becomes crisi...
Cyberbullying hits different because it doesn’t end when the school day ends. It follows kids home, it spreads fast, and it can turn shame and fear into a 24/7 problem.
In Part 1 with Mike and Jeff, Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) and co-host Tony Medeiros (“IndyPocket”) dig into what digital-age bullying really does to kids’ mental health — anxiety, depression, isolation, self-worth collapse, and the “I can’t esc...
This is one of the most personal episodes we’ve done.
Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) and co-host Tony Medeiros (“IndyPocket”) sit down with Nicholas’s mom, Kim Wichman, for a raw conversation about family trauma, grief, survival, and what it’s actually like parenting a child who grows up to live with schizoaffective disorder. This isn’t a polished “inspiration” story. It’s real life — three people looking at the ...
Public safety anxiety is real — and a lot of it is fueled by misinformation, fear cycles, and a gap between perception and reality.
In Part 2 with Officer Ryan Manning, host Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) digs into crime prevention, preparedness, and what actually reduces risk in the real world. We talk about the emotional toll of critical incidents, how repeated exposure changes the nervous system, and why “comm...
Policing sits at the intersection of authority, crisis, trauma exposure, and human behavior — which means mental health is part of the job whether anyone wants to admit it or not.
In Part 1 with Officer Ryan Manning, host Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) digs into law enforcement and mental health: what “authority” actually means in real-world interactions, how training shapes stress response, and what officers do ...
Alcohol is one of the most socially accepted ways to destroy your life — and recovery is rarely a straight line.
In this episode of Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! (AKA “BTMHOOI!”), host Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) sits down with former classmate and good friend, Jake Miller for a candid conversation about alcoholism, addiction recovery, relapse risk, shame, and what it actually takes to rebuild a life when ...
When people hear “healing,” they picture peace and closure. Real life healing often looks like court dates, custody stress, panic, and trying to keep functioning while you’re still bleeding internally.
In Part 2 with Kristi Morris, Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) and co-host Tony Medeiros (“IndyPocket”) talk about what rebuilding can actually require after trauma: domestic abuse, divorce, single motherhood, and th...
Some trauma doesn’t just hurt you — it rewires how you feel safe, how you trust, and how your brain protects you.
In Part 1 with Kristi Morris, Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) and co-host Tony Medeiros (“IndyPocket”) have a survivor-centered conversation about sexual assault, child abuse, and dissociation — what it looks like in real life, why it happens, and how it can follow you into adulthood even when you’re “...
Men’s mental health doesn’t fall apart because men are “weak.” It falls apart because so many men were trained to shut down, shut up, and “handle it” until they can’t.
In this episode of Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! (AKA “BTMHOOI!”), host Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) and co-host Tony Medeiros (“IndyPocket”) sit down with close friend, Josh Guffey (aka “Guff”) for another real, no-holds-barred conversation....
What does schizophrenia actually feel like from the inside — and what does it take to keep creating when your brain is trying to pull you into another reality?
In this episode of Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! (AKA “BTMHOOI!”), host Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) sits down with Rachel Star Withers for an honest conversation about living on the schizophrenia spectrum: psychosis, stigma, daily functioning, and c...
Religion can be healing. Religion can also be trauma. And for a lot of people, it’s both.
In this episode of Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! (AKA “BTMHOOI!”), host Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) and co-host Tony Medeiros (“IndyPocket”) talk faith, religion, spirituality, and mental health — with zero sugarcoating.
Nicholas is very open (and sometimes harsh) about his serious conflicts with religion, especially C...
Shadow work is not permission to harm people. It’s the opposite: it’s how you face what’s in you without letting it become behavior.
In this episode of Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! (AKA “BTMHOOI!”), host Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) and co-host Tony Medeiros (“IndyPocket”) get blunt about dangerous urges, intrusive thoughts, self-control, consent, boundaries, and accountability — and why “glamorizing” or e...
Friendship isn’t just who you laugh at life with. It’s who tells you the truth — and who sticks around long enough to help you grow.
In this episode of Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! (AKA “BTMHOOI!”), host Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) is joined again by close friend Josh Guffey (aka “Guff”) for another no-BS conversation. Josh is also a passenger on “The Struggle Bus,” so this episode has that real “we actua...
Your “shadow self” isn’t the evil version of you. It’s the parts you hide, deny, or feel ashamed of — and the more you pretend it isn’t there, the more it tends to leak out sideways.
In this episode of Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! (AKA “BTMHOOI!”), host Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) and co-host Tony Medeiros (“IndyPocket”) talk shadow work without the mysticism, clichés, or spiritual cosplay. Inspired by Ca...
PTSD doesn’t end when the war ends. Coming home can be its own kind of battlefield — especially when childhood trauma, grief, and decades of survival stack on top of combat memories.
In this episode of Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! (AKA “BTMHOOI!”), host Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) sits down with Vietnam veteran and his great uncle, Marc Wichman, for a candid conversation about PTSD, war, marriage, loss, a...
What if drumming isn’t just music — but brain training?
In this episode of Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! (AKA “BTMHOOI!”), host Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) and co-host Tony Medeiros (“IndyPocket”) sit down with world-class Australian drummer Chris Brien for a deep, fun, and surprisingly mind-expanding conversation about rhythm, cognition, learning, and what disciplined practice can do for your brain.
Chris ...
Infidelity and addiction don’t just break trust — they can fracture an entire family system. And if kids are involved, the fallout doesn’t stay “between adults.”
In this episode of Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! (AKA “BTMHOOI!”), host Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) and co-host Tony Medeiros (“IndyPocket”) sit down with Josh Guffey (aka “Guff”) for a heavy but practical conversation about betrayal trauma, alcoh...
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