The Peripheral, host Justin sits down with Kat, who shares her deeply personal journey through treatment-resistant depression and her experience with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
Kat opens up about reaching a point where nothing else worked, leading her to ECT as a last-resort option. What followed was profound relief from her depression—but at a steep cost: extensive memory loss resembling amnesia, gaps in her personal history, and the challenge of piecing her life back together.
She candidly discusses:
The decision to pursue ECT and what the treatments were like
The devastating impact of memory erasure and retrograde/anterograde amnesia
Her long road to recovery, relearning her own life, and personal growth
Why she would never choose ECT again for herself
Her balanced perspective: not wanting to discourage others, as ECT can be life-saving for some people when other treatments fail
This episode explores the complexities of mental health treatments, the real human cost of side effects, and themes of resilience, acceptance, and moving forward after profound loss.

Megan never saw herself working behind prison walls. But when family expectations collide with personal values, she finds herself donning a uniform—not out of passion, but out of a quiet hope to be seen, accepted, and maybe even understood.
This episode explores Megan's journey into the correctional system, where she learns to navigate the tension between duty and identity. She makes observations about her peers who seem to judge her the same way they judge the ones they oversee. Do you choose approval for others or yourself?

I hope I haven't bit off more than I can chew but I'm going to start a youtube channel. Podcast numbers have been dwindling with the rise of short form video and tiktok. The Peripheral is my passion project and I hope to keep it going with youtube. It will always be available on every podcast platform so no worries there!

Thank you to all my patreon supporters you make this all happen.

Justin

https://www.youtube.com/@theperipheralpodcast

https://www.patreon.com/peripheralpodcast