Welcome to the very first episode of Back from the Abyss.

I'm Dr. Craig Hickok, your host and resident psychiatrist.

In thousands and thousands of hours of listening to my patient's stories,

I've had the deepest privilege, and at times the nearly overwhelming pain of trying to help people through their darkest times.

Years ago, earlier in my career, a patient's suicide almost destroyed me.

It took me a long time to find my way out.

More on this in a later episode. These stories are my attempt to share what I see every day,

that healing is possible, that there is great courage and wisdom and beauty in the journey

out of the darkness. With these stories, I want to spread hope.

Whether you have been touched by psychiatric illness yourself or know someone who has,

or want to learn a little bit about psychiatry, or just lose yourself in a moving story,

I hope each of you can find something meaningful here.

Names and some details have been changed in these stories to maintain confidentiality. In this, the very first

episode of Back from the Abyss, we explore one of the darkest and most terrifying parts of the abyss,

coming face to face with a desperate and overwhelming need to die.

Our guest today, Elizabeth fought this mounting darkness for almost 25 years while finishing school, raising three children, and working.

And then in 2010, at age 40,

she took a massive and near fatal dose of multiple medications.

This is her story of healing, of gratitude, of finding a new life.

Elizabeth.

Hi.

Hi.

...