The Chronic Illness Therapist Podcast

Dr. Jessica Rabon, a pediatric hospital psychologist, joins me to talk about what happens when a child’s tests all come back normal, why kids sometimes get diagnosed faster in the hospital than in years of outpatient referrals, and how often “noncompliant” really describes a broken system. We also get into what to say to your doctor about medical trauma so they can actually respond to what you need.

If you've ever wondered why losing your old life to chronic illness feels so much like grief, this episode puts language to it. I sit down with Kelsey Ruffing, MA, MS, LCPC, a therapist specializing in sport and health psychology, to talk about the surprising overlap between career-ending sports injuries and chronic illness diagnoses. We get into why "defeat" deserves to be felt instead of reframed, how brainspotting helps people reconnect with a sense of purpose, and why being dismissed by a doctor does the same damage as being ignored by a coach who's supposed to have your back.

If you've ever been told to push through the pain, or worried that going slower means giving up, this one's going to feel like permission to stop. Movement therapist Jeannie Di Bon opens up about why nervous system regulation, not exercise, is often the missing first step to actually getting stronger, and why so many of us confuse self-care with self-compassion until it's almost too late to tell the difference.

A conversation with Candice Craft, LMFT on navigating endometriosis, medical gaslighting, and the layered grief that comes with chronic illness. We talk about why "I believe you" can be the start of real healing, how to prepare somatically for surgery, the link between endometriosis and trauma, and how to keep your identity intact when your body becomes the center of everything.

If you've ever left a physical therapy appointment feeling like you got handed a printout of exercises and sent on your way, you're not alone — and you're not the problem. The truth is, chronic pain lives at the intersection of biology, psychology, and the relationships we have with our own bodies and our providers. Eighty-five percent of people with low back pain have no identifiable cause on imaging. That doesn't mean the pain isn't real. It means we haven't developed the tools to test for it yet. And 'just move better' is the physical therapy equivalent of 'just think positively' — technically well-meaning, and almost completely unhelpful on its own. Dr. Megan Steele joined me to talk about what good care actually looks like, why your nervous system needs proof before it changes, and how the relationship with your provider might be doing more than the treatment itself.

If you've ever left a doctor's office feeling more dismissed than when you walked in, this one is for you. Dr. Emily Mendenhall — medical anthropologist, Guggenheim Fellow, and author of Invisible Illness: A History from Hysteria to Long COVID — joins me to talk about the long history behind medical gaslighting, why patients with complex chronic conditions are still being dismissed today, and a concept called structural silencing that might finally put language to an experience you've been carrying for a long time.

If you're living with MCAS or any kind of mast cell or histamine-related condition, you already know the exhaustion of not having clear answers. Licensed psychologist Dr. Amanda Whitehouse joins the podcast to talk about what's actually happening in the nervous system when you're living in constant uncertainty — and what it looks like to start healing without pretending that's a simple process.

When you have a chronic illness, eating can stop feeling like something your body just knows how to do. Add an eating disorder into the picture, and suddenly nourishing yourself becomes one of the most complicated things you'll face. Registered dietitian Tiffany Pecoraro talks about what happens when eating disorder recovery and chronic illness collide — why elimination diets can quietly fuel restriction, why "listen to your body" doesn't always work when your nervous system has been in survival mode, and why so many people complete treatment and still find themselves struggling. This conversation is honest, nuanced, and exactly the kind of thing nobody warned you about.

Most people with kidney disease are being told what to cut out. But according to renal dietitian Jen Hernandez, that's exactly the wrong question — and the internet's most popular kidney diet advice may be doing more harm than good.

Grace Quantock is a renowned counselor and author of Reclaiming Wellness with Chronic Illness. In this interview, she discusses the pitfalls of the “bootstrap wellness narrative” and presents new approaches to individualized wellness routines.