Episode Details

Janet Dunne spent years searching for answers to bipolar disorder and depression, finding guidance in unexpected places ranging from hospitals and therapy to spiritual teachers and self-help books. Along the way, she discovered that many of those lessons pointed to the same simple idea: acknowledge your thoughts and feelings, but don’t let them control you. In this episode, we explore her deeply personal journey and the experiences that inspired her to share it with others.

Janet: Don’t hold on to your thoughts, don’t hold on to feelings. If it’s a bad feeling, let it go. If it’s a good feeling, let it go.

Sam: Just… let it go.

That sounds easy enough. But if you’re suffering from bipolar disorder, you might be inclined to resist that advice. Our guest today, Janet Dunne, says don’t. She the author of the book One Foot in the Right Direction: Bipolar, a Mental Health Problem and today, we’re going to learn  why letting go is so important. .

Theme: The Curated Chapter

Sam: Part memoir and part self-help guide, One Foot in the Right Direction chronicles Janet Dunne’s journey through bipolar disorder and depression. Along the way, she shares the lessons, people, and practices that helped her rebuild her life and find hope again.

Janet: I found my adult life harder than my childhood. My childhood was lovely. It wasn’t perfect, but I was a happy child. I made mistakes and held on to things, held on to memories, and I got myself into trouble basically.

Sam: Janet Dunne grew up in Dublin with a mystery at the center of her life.

When she was three years old, her father disappeared. Not in the way you might be thinking. He became an actual missing person. For years, Janet hoped and prayed that he would come home safely, but he never did.

What followed was a childhood filled with contradictions. There were difficult moments: struggles in school, anxiety, and grief. But there were also adventures with friends, afternoons spent with her grandmother, family stories, music, art, and laughter.

As Janet entered adulthood, the challenges she had carried for years began to intensify. Eventually, she found herself in Ireland’s mental health system searching for answers. What frustrated her most was the lack of explanation.

Janet: I live in Ireland and the system in Ireland when you have mental health, they don’t explain the mental health problems to you. So you’re just put on medication and you’re basically in the system that’s in Ireland because I was in the system. I didn’t have private health insurance, so I was going through the normal system that’s there for all the rest of the people.”

Sam: Janet wasn’t satisfied with simply being told what medication to take. She wanted to understand what was happening to her and why. When those answers didn’t come, she began looking elsewhere.

Janet: Right from the get-go when I came out of hospital, one of my first things to do was to run to a church and pray to God to help me because I was in a very, very weird place that I had never been before. So I was searching outside myself.”

Sam: Janet’s search for answers would eventually take her far beyond Ireland. Along the way she encountered therapists, spiritual teachers, self-help authors, and even an Aboriginal healer whose advice would become one of the central lessons o