Talking Taiwan Ep 190 | Peter Zhao: Tourette Syndrome Awareness and his Own Personal Struggles with Mental Health
A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:
May 15 to June 15th is Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month. To learn more about what Tourette syndrome is, I encourage you to listen to the episode that we did last year with Peter Zhao, episode 129. Peter is a Tourette Activist and has been a guest on Talking Taiwan several times. He’s also spoken up about Asian hate crimes.
I really appreciate the openness and candor with which he speaks about his personal struggles with mental health. It’s not an easy thing to do. Peter spoke about the challenges he’s faced in dealing with Tourette and bipolar I, and his concerns with the side effects of medication, which he noted has made him lose his “edge.” Dealing with mental health is a process that requires assessment, evaluation, and self-reflection.
To learn more about Peter, you can find him on social media as @fabulouslytourette or check out his podcast Fabulously Tourette Radio.
Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:
- Peter’s podcast Fabulously Tourette Radio
- Peter’s diagnosis of manic depression, bipolar I with major depressive episodes
- How Peter is considered neurodivergent
- How podcasting is a form of talk therapy for Peter
- The term neurodivergent
- What happened to lead Peter to get officially diagnosed with bipolar I
- Peter’s previous struggles in taking an anti-psychotic drug Orap (generic name Pimozide), which he shared in detail in Talking Taiwan episode 129
- Peter’s Op Ed on AsAm News about dealing with bipolar disorder
- Peter’s struggles with his mood swings and comorbidities
- How Peter’s depression affected his job performance and family life
- The difficulties and challenges of Peter’s day job
- How Peter has experienced greater anxiety after working remotely since the beginning of the pandemic
- Peter’s candid posts about mental health on social media
- What happened after Peter was diagnosed with bipolar I and started taking a new medication
- The approach Peter took to starting this new medication
- How the medication stopped many of Peter’s tics and how he feels about that
- How Peter feels after being on this new medication for four months
- The side effects of the medication that Peter is taking and how he’s dealing with them
- The support of Peter’s partner
- How Peter came to the decision to take a leave of absence from work
- How Peter handled his leave of absence and used it as a mental health reset
- Peter’s considerations when it comes to job satisfaction and his career path
- Peter’s advocacy for Tourette syndrome and bipolar disorder
- Peter’s tip, the 50-50 mindfulness technique for people dealing with anxiety
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