A prescription is supposed to help you get your life back. What happens when it quietly takes it away instead? I sit down with Stephanie Starr, a program manager and graduate student, whose search for mental health support after a traumatic birth turned into a devastating chain of misdiagnosis, escalating medications, and loss of trust in healthcare.

Stephanie walks us through being told she had bipolar disorder, being put on a rotating “cocktail” of psychiatric meds, and how side effects and instability can snowball into riskier choices, deeper shame, and substance use. We talk openly about benzodiazepines, the warning signs of a pill mill style clinic, and why “just follow doctor’s orders” is not enough when the diagnosis is shaky and the treatment plan only involves more and more medication. Her story also includes the realities of trauma, a suicide attempt, and the way stigma can show up in the very places people go for help.

From there, we shift into recovery and what actually sustains it. Stephanie shares how faith and a higher power became central for her, while also naming the harm that can happen in faith-based recovery spaces that push “just pray it away” thinking or shame people who need medication. We dig into emotional sobriety, AA-style accountability, therapy tools like EMDR, and how learning to tolerate discomfort can be a turning point in addiction recovery.

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To contact Dr. Grover: ammadeeasy@fastmail.com

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