Embedded

Misty Pratt, author of All In Her Head: How Gender Bias Harms Women’s Mental Health, joins Jennifer St John for a layered conversation about women’s mental health, systemic bias, emotional inheritance, and the stories that become embedded in our bodies, relationships, and nervous systems over time.Together, they explore how women’s distress has historically been misunderstood, medicalized, and dismissed — from the legacy of hysteria to modern conversations around burnout, anxiety, mental load, and nervous system overwhelm.Misty reflects on her grandmother’s late-life psychotic break, her own experiences with panic attacks and anxiety, and the long process of understanding what her body had been trying to say before she had language for it. Jennifer shares reflections from her own family’s journey as the two discuss intergenerational trauma, invisible labor, somatic healing, and the pressure many women feel to “hold it all together.”This conversation explores:• Gender bias in medicine and mental health care• The history and lasting legacy of hysteria• Burnout, mental load, and invisible labor• Anxiety, panic attacks, and nervous system dysregulation• Somatic therapy and body-based healing• Intergenerational trauma and emotional inheritance• Rest, boundaries, and adaptive coping• Why healing is both personal and systemicThis episode is thoughtful, honest, and deeply validating — especially for listeners who have ever felt like their exhaustion, anxiety, or overwhelm was something they simply needed to “fix” within themselves.Connect with Misty Pratt:Website: Misty Pratt Official WebsiteInstagram & Threads: @mistyprattwriterLinkedIn: mistyprattSubstack: Misty Pratt SubstackHost/Producer/Writer/Director: Jenn St JohnEditor: Andrew SchillerWebsite: www.jennstjohn.caFollow along:Instagram: @jenn_stjohnLinkedIn: Jenn St JohnIf this episode spoke to you, share it with someone who might need to hear it too.Subscribe, leave a review, or just send a little love—your support helps these conversations reach the people who need them most.