Sam and Charlie Won’t Shut Up: Recent Episodes
Sam and Charlie
Shutting up and shutting down is a survival mechanism adopted by many victims of sexual abuse. This is a podcast dedicated to helping survivors of sexual abuse in sport to reclaim their voices.
TRIGGER WARNING: Mention of suicidal ideation and other serious mental health issues.
In this episode, Sam gets vulnerable and explains how sexual abuse and assault caused a couple of quirky habits to morph into full-blown obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). He describes how his condition quickly became completely debilitating and his compulsions were consuming 7-8 hours per day, leaving him feeling hopeless and wondering if suicide was the only possible escape. Fortunately, with the help of his trauma therapist and his family and a lot of determined and courageous work on his part, Sam's condition is in the process of improving and there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
The article online that Sam mentions that made him realize that he wasn't just dealing with OCD: What does it mean to have Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)?
Two books that have been helpful to Sam in understanding (and reclaiming his life from) OCD and BDD: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Body Dysmorphic Disorder: A Treatment Manual and Brain Lock: Free Yourself from Obsessive Compulsive Behavior.
Emma Thomas started her all-star cheer career shortly after she learned to walk and has been on some of the most iconic cheer teams in recent history, including Senior Elite, Lady Lux, and SSX. She knows what it's like to have all eyes on her and to be the subject of sometimes very unkind discussion on cheer Twitter. Emma is one of our closest friends and is one of the few people who has walked with us all the way through the challenges we've wrestled with over the past few years. Today we talk to Emma about life after all-star cheerleading, the healing influence that creative pursuits have had in her life, and the career in fashion that she is currently pursuing in New York City.
If you happened to have ended up here without knowing about our story, you can read the first article in the USA Today investigative series we mentioned here.