The Mikhaila Peterson Podcast

Laura Delano was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 14 and spent the next 13 years on psychiatric medications including lithium, Lamictal, Abilify, Effexor, and Ativan.After being labeled “treatment resistant” and nearly ending her life, she started questioning whether the medications themselves were part of the problem.In this conversation, Laura walks through what happened when she came off five psychiatric drugs, the years-long withdrawal process that followed, and how she rebuilt her health afterward. She also explains why she founded the Inner Compass Initiative, a nonprofit helping people taper off psychiatric medications safely.We discuss:• Psychiatric drug dependence and withdrawal• Withdrawal vs. relapse• Hyperbolic tapering• The chemical imbalance theory• Akathisia and neurological symptoms• Diet and recovery• Birth control and psychiatric medication• RFK Jr. and psychiatric drug policy• TikTok censorship• Why 1 in 4 Americans are now on psych medsFind Laura:lauradelano.cominnercompass.orgX: @LauraDeLanoBook: Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance - unshrunkthebook.comSubmit your experience at: prescribed-harm.comResources for tapering/studies: prescribed-harm.comChapters:00:00 Intro02:08 Why Laura Delano Thinks the RFK Moment Is a Real Opportunity07:45 Laura Delano Believed She Would Be a Monster Without the Medications10:13 How Psychiatry Turns Every Human Experience Into a Symptom17:24 What Long Term Psychiatric Medications Actually Do to the Brain20:32 The Moment Laura Delano Asked: What If It's the Treatment, Not the Illness23:04 The First Year Off All 5 Drugs: Brushing Teeth Was the Whole Day36:27 The First Time Laura Delano Was Free From Pharmaceuticals as an Adult43:58 What Laura Delano Actually Thinks About the RFK Psychiatric Medication Rumor53:01 Withdrawal vs Relapse: The Distortion Keeping 65 Million Americans on These Meds56:45 What Akathisia Actually Feels Like From the Inside01:00:09 Laura Delano's Advice for Anyone Who Wants to Come Off These Medications01:02:12 Tapering Is Not About the Drugs. It Is About Reclaiming Your Life and Your Agency.01:10:45 Why Laura Delano Thinks a Genetic Sensitivity to Mold May Explain the Worst Reactions01:16:03 The Real Mental Health Crisis: Our Relationship to Emotional Pain and What It Means to Be Human01:16:47 Laura Delano Is Still Intense, Still Cries, Still Gets Anxious. She Just Does Not Call It Illness Anymore.01:19:39 What SSRIs Did to Sexual Function and What Laura Delano Didn't Know Until She Was 2101:32:21 Where to Find Laura Delano, the Free Tapering Guide and the Book UnshrunkFor a high quality education and community consider enrolling in Peterson Academy: https://petersonacademy.com/—Research Sites—Newsletter/website: https://mikhailapeterson.comFuller Research Foundation: https://fullerresearch.orgLion Diet: https://liondiet.comBiotoxin: https://biotoxin.comPrescribed-Harm: https://prescribed-harm.com—Socials—Meta: https://facebook.com/mikhailapete​rsonpodcastX: https://x.com/MikhailaFullerInstagram: https://instagram.com/mikhailapetersonTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mikhailapeterson

I had Tom Benson, CEO of Mitrix on to discuss mitochondrial transplantation. We covered what mitochondria are, the discovery that your body is constantly delivering fresh mitochondria through your bloodstream (people didn’t know that mitochondria were transferred outside the cell until recently!), why we age, what kills mitochondria (stress, smoking, radiation, chemotherapy and certain antibiotics like fluoroquinolones, psych meds), why COVID destroys mitochondria and what that means for long COVID, the Alzheimer's and Parkinson's brain tissue regeneration research their company has already done in mice, what mitochondrial transplantation actually is and how it has already been used in pediatric heart surgery, what a bioreactor growing mitochondria for personal use might look like, and more.

Find Tom at mitrix.bio (http://mitrix.bio/).

I had Dr. Jaban Moore on my podcast! In my opinion one of the top integrative doctors out there. He works with people around the world on complex chronic illness: Lyme disease, mold toxicity, heavy metals, MCAS, long COVID and everything in between.We get into a ton. Why blood tests for heavy metals are almost completely useless, how your body adapts to toxins so well that your labs can look fine while you are actually very sick, why psych meds can still be sitting in your cells years after you stopped taking them, what it actually means when you react badly to magnesium or B vitamins, the energy budget framework and why high achievers can burn themselves out. Why living in a bubble and feeling okay is not the same as being healed (duh), how trauma and mold toxicity create the same internal loop that keeps your body stuck in fight or flight, what the neurotoxic loop is and why leaving a moldy house does not automatically stop the immune response. He’s an integrative doc I’d trust to treat patients properly and worth a listen.Find Dr. Jaban Moore at drjabanmoore.com and on Instagram.

I had Dr. Jaban Moore on my podcast! In my opinion one of the top integrative doctors out there. He works with people around the world on complex chronic illness: Lyme disease, mold toxicity, heavy metals, MCAS, long COVID and everything in between.We get into a ton. Why blood tests for heavy metals are almost completely useless, how your body adapts to toxins so well that your labs can look fine while you are actually very sick, why psych meds can still be sitting in your cells years after you stopped taking them, what it actually means when you react badly to magnesium or B vitamins, the energy budget framework and why high achievers can burn themselves out. Why living in a bubble and feeling okay is not the same as being healed (duh), how trauma and mold toxicity create the same internal loop that keeps your body stuck in fight or flight, what the neurotoxic loop is and why leaving a moldy house does not automatically stop the immune response. He’s an integrative doc I’d trust to treat patients properly and worth a listen.Find Dr. Jaban Moore at drjabanmoore.com and on Instagram.

I've wanted to have this kind of conversation for a long time. Wesley Huff is a New Testament historian who studies ancient manuscripts, and he is exactly the kind of thinker I wish I had found before I became a Christian. The logical part of my brain needed someone who could walk through the evidence without assuming you already believe it.In this episode we get into how close modern Bibles actually are to the original manuscripts and why we are getting closer to the original text over time, not further away. Why the ESV is not a dumbed-down Bible and why words in the King James have actually changed meaning. Whether a Christian can lose their salvation and what the Scripture says about it. The best historical case for the resurrection and why liars make bad martyrs. What speaking in tongues actually was in the New Testament and why it requires a translator. The Gnostic Gospels, the Gospel of Thomas and why early Christians already knew these were fake. What Gnosticism actually teaches and why it is making a quiet comeback today. And why studying under people who don't believe Christianity only made Wesley's faith stronger.Find Wesley at ApologeticsCanada.com and on Peterson Academy.—Research Sites—Newsletter/website: https://mikhailapeterson.comFuller Research Foundation: https://fullerresearch.orgLion Diet: https://liondiet.comBiotoxin: https://biotoxin.comPrescribed-Harm: https://prescribed-harm.com—Socials—Meta: https://facebook.com/mikhailapete​rsonpodcastX: https://x.com/MikhailaFullerInstagram: https://instagram.com/mikhailapetersonTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mikhailapeterson