#810 Cults, Shootings & PTSD - Best Of - Matthew Walden

Mental Illness Happy Hour

Paul Gilmartin

Society & Culture, Sexuality, Mental Health, Relationships, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 6.1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2026

⏱️ 131 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Originally aired as our 148th episode, this Best Of replay is a riveting one. Although the writer/producer grew up in Hawaii, his childhood was far from paradise; enduring a cornucopia of PTSD, leaving him wondering what is real and what isn’t. He also shares his obsession with cults and the time he joined one to write about it and almost lost his mind.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to episode 810 with my guest Matthew Walden. This is Best of episode. This was originally episode number 148. I am, yes, I'm running another Best of episode. I wouldn't call it under the weather. Just still trying to recharge my battery.
0:22.4	And that's where I'm at.
0:23.9	And I also feel like rerunning, first of all, I think this is a great episode.
0:32.0	I think his story is so compelling.
0:35.7	And I also am liking being able to air best of episodes because they
0:42.4	have surveys in them even though people who've reached out to me have been like
0:46.7	stop beating yourself up about taking a break from the surveys you you need it
0:50.9	but I feel good when I do a best of episode, even though people have potentially heard it before.
0:55.7	At least it has some surveys in it.
0:59.0	But I think this episode with Matthew would be great whether there were surveys or not.
1:06.9	I'm very happy to be re-airing it. I am very, very slowly. I'd say I get up,
1:19.8	it feels like I'm getting about 2% better a week. A little bit more vitality, feeling like I've been sharing the last couple of weeks,
1:32.2	like the pelvic floor therapy is helping kind of dissipate some of the trauma and the regression
1:40.0	and regression and all that other stuff.
1:43.4	But thank you to everybody who's been supportive.
1:47.3	I appreciate it.
1:48.8	And here now that episode with Matthew Walden.
1:54.5	I'm Paul Gilmartin.
1:55.3	This is the Mental Illness Happy Hour.
1:57.4	An hour or two of honesty about all the battles in our heads.
2:00.4	From medically diagnosed
2:01.6	conditions, past traumas, and sexual dysfunction to everyday compulsive negative thinking.
	...

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