Dessa on the Importance of Taking Care of Family, Body, Mind, and Curiosity

Content Warning: This episode discusses depression, anxiety, mood disorders, and suicide.  Long before she was an acclaimed rapper, singer, and author, Dessa was a scared adolescent, facing big feelings that she didn’t know what to do with and running away from home. She eventually found peace with her parents and returned to them and the younger brother who needed her and loved her very much. Dessa tells us how family support and a curiosity about health and medicine have served her well, including when as a young adult she checked into an in-patient facility and received a diagnosis of cyclothymia, which she describes as a sort of “low-carb bipolar disorder”. She fills us in on how she’s managed that, how her family of origin has continued to lean on each other for support, and how she’s bringing her wisdom to a new relationship.