Dead Inside & Board Certified

Episode 4: You're Not Depressed, You're Just Poor

Is it Major Depressive Disorder…or is it late-stage capitalism?
In this episode, we pull apart the uncomfortable overlap between psychiatric symptoms and financial strain. Because sometimes what looks like depression is chronic stress. What looks like apathy is burnout. What looks like “low motivation” is working two jobs and still not being able to pay rent.
We talk about:
• The symptom overlap between depression, anxiety, and financial insecurity• How chronic money stress rewires the nervous system• Why SSRIs don’t fix food insecurity• The cost of living, student loans, childcare, and the invisible weight patients carry• How clinicians can validate suffering without over-pathologizing survival• The moral tension of treating symptoms rooted in socioeconomic reality
We also unpack the uncomfortable truth:We work inside a system that medicalizes distress — even when that distress makes sense.
This isn’t anti-medication.It’s anti-oversimplification.
Because sometimes your patient isn’t “noncompliant.”They’re exhausted.They’re scared.They’re drowning.
And sometimes the most radical thing you can say in a psych office is:“This makes sense.”
Welcome back to the abyss.

Episode 3: Clocking in at the Abyss

What actually happens after we clock in?
In this episode, we pull back the curtain on what a real day in psychiatry looks like — beyond the therapy couch and prescription pad. We talk about the chaos behind the scenes: charting at midnight, prior authorizations, crisis calls between patients, billing codes that decide reimbursement, and the messages that never stop coming.
We break down:
What a “full schedule” really means
The emotional whiplash of back-to-back trauma
The business side of running a psych practice
Where the money actually goes (and why it’s not what people think)
The quiet weight providers carry home
This isn’t the polished Instagram version of mental health care.
It’s the paperwork.It’s the liability.It’s the moral injury.It’s the inbox at 9:47 PM.
This is what it means to clock in at the abyss — and why we still show up anyway.

Episode 2: You Can't Out Medicate Trauma.

In this episode, we talk about the hard truth we don’t say enough in psychiatry: you can’t out-prescribe trauma.
We dive into what it actually looks like to help patients navigate trauma — beyond SSRIs, beyond quick fixes — and the delicate balance of supporting someone’s healing without absorbing their pain as your own.
We unpack:
Why medication alone isn’t trauma treatment
The emotional labor of holding trauma stories all day
How providers unintentionally take work home
PTSD from healthcare itself — and how it quietly fuels burnout
This episode is about boundaries, moral injury, and the cost of caring for people in crisis.
Because trauma doesn’t just live in our patients.It can live in providers too.
And if we don’t talk about that?We burn out pretending we’re fine.

Episode One: Dead Tired, Still Licensed

Welcome to Dead Inside and Board Certified.
In our first episode, we introduce who we are, how we ended up in psychiatry, and why we decided to start this podcast in the first place.
We talk about the realities of working in mental health that nobody prepares you for — the burnout, the dark humor, the moral injury, and the moments that quietly change you forever.
We also unpack the meaning behind our name, the “Occult” vibe, and our mission: pulling back the curtain on what psych really looks like behind closed doors.
This isn’t therapy talk or toxic positivity.It’s the truth about what it costs to care for people in crisis — and why we keep showing up anyway.
If you’ve ever wondered what actually happens behind the psych scenes… this is where we start.