#784 Family Secrets & Letting Go - Sophia Laurenzi
Mental Illness Happy Hour
Paul Gilmartin
4.8 • 6.1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 January 2026
⏱️ 140 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Writer/Journalist Sophia Laurenzi @Sophia_Laurenzi shares about the family secrets that were kept from her for years, her father coming out of the closet and his battles with mental health, her struggles with codependency and using work as a tool to cope with her feelings. She also shares some personal experiences she had working on behalf of inmates on Death Row.
More about Sophia:
Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophia_laurenzi/
Subscribe to her newsletter: https://sophialaurenzi.substack.com/
Learn more on Sophia's website: https://www.sophialaurenzi.com/
This episode is sponsored by Greenleaf Book Club. Pick up your copy of Mountains to Cross wherever books are sold!
This episode is sponsored Quince. Go to www.Quince.com/mental for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.
This episode is sponsored by Alma
Visit helloalma.com/happyhour to schedule a free therapy consultation today.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to episode 784 with my guest, Sophia Lorenzi. My name is Paul, last name Gilmartin. |
| 0:07.8 | If you're new to the podcast, I hope you find this to be a place for honesty about all the battles in our heads from medically diagnosed conditions, past traumas, and sexual dysfunction to everyday compulsive negative thinking. |
| 0:21.3 | This show is not meant to be a substitute. |
| 0:23.5 | For professional mental counseling, |
| 0:25.6 | I am not a therapist, you have been warned. |
| 0:29.0 | The website for this show is metalpod.com and metalpod, |
| 0:32.8 | also the social media handle. |
| 0:34.6 | You can follow us at. |
| 0:39.3 | This is from the struggle in a sentence survey, and this is filled out by a woman who calls |
| 0:44.3 | herself M.M. About her depression, she writes, if only I were as invisible as I feel. |
| 0:51.2 | Oh, that's such a good one. |
| 0:53.5 | About her alcoholism. Well, I'm not a good one. About her alcoholism. |
| 0:55.4 | Well, I'm not as bad as so-and-so. |
| 0:58.7 | About her OCD. |
| 1:00.2 | Everything has a place and it must be in that place. |
| 1:04.4 | And about overeating, trying to fill up my empty heart through my stomach. |
| 1:09.7 | Oh, those are so good. |
| 1:10.7 | Thank you for those. |
| 1:14.1 | This is filled out by Joe and about his depression. |
| 1:18.8 | He writes, being bipolar is like throwing a deck of cards into a tornado and trying to grab the ace of spades. |
| 1:26.3 | Oh, my God. and trying to grab the ace of spades. |
| 1:29.4 | Oh, my God. |
... |
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