The best way for Dr. Paul Kalanithi to process his terminal diagnosis was to write a book about accepting death. His wife, Dr. Lucy Kalanithi promised Paul she’d see the book through publication. Since then, she has shared her story all over the world and has helped people become more comfortable talking about death, grief, and acceptance.

We’re often taught that trauma is something that happens to us, but psychiatrist Dr. Alauna Curry explains that trauma is something that happens within us. Using different parts of the brain, she explains how our experiences and beliefs can lead us to experience something as traumatic, and how we can use those same systems to heal from that trauma.

This week Nzinga answers two listener questions about setting boundaries in long-term relationships with partners who are working through addiction. Plus, one woman wants to know how to heal from her traumatic relationship patterns, while another caller wants to break out of their pattern of shame around an old pornography addiction.

Not guilty for reason of insanity is a full acquittal of criminal charges. Does that mean it’s a get out of jail free card? Turns out it’s much more complicated. Olachi Etoh first started hearing voices in 2009. It hit its peak five years later, when she thought she was experiencing a terrorist attack at Chicago O’Hare airport. Her reaction landed her in Cook County Jail for a year awaiting trial.

What happens after your question is answered on the show? One of our listeners decided to follow up to push back on part of Nzinga’s response. He and Nzinga discuss what resonated, what hurt, and end up digging into much more than either of them expected.

This week Nzinga catches up with activist and Pod Save the People host DeRay Mckesson and his dad, Calvin. Last year DeRay, his sister TeRay, and Calvin were on an episode of Last Day to talk about what it was like growing up around addiction and recovery. Now, we hear about the impact that conversation had on their relationship, and the way that COVID has (or hasn’t) changed the game for both of them.

In this round of listener questions, one friend asks about serial monogamy and the pattern she sees in her female friends of hanging on to relationships. A brother wants to know what he can tell his sister about her curtailing her son’s Fortnite tantrums. Plus, one woman who doesn’t understand why her son would be given Suboxone.

Often when we hear about sex addiction, it’s used to excuse or justify bad behavior. In the last couple of years we can look to stories like Jeffery Toobin, Harvey Weinstein, and the Atlanta shooter Robert Long as examples of this. So how can we recognize and support people living with sex addiction and the stigma that comes with it? Nzinga talks to psychologist, sex expert and host of Sexology Podcast Dr. Nazanin Moali, to define sex addiction and pathways to recovery. Plus, Nzinga and Dr. Moali answer a listener question.

During a small retreat, six people in recovery discovered the way their childhood trauma played a part in the addictions they had. The retreat and the histories of each of the participants were part of the documentary Uprooting Addiction. This week, Nzinga sits down with two of the creators of the film, social worker and addiction specialist Hope Payson, and filmmaker Tory Jadow. The three talk about the way childhood trauma is often overlooked as a risk for addiction, and the ways those who’ve experienced trauma can survive and eventually thrive.

One woman’s family seems to be addicted to chaos, but she’s not sure if that counts as an addiction. Plus, a man is curious about the similarities between adderall and meth, in the hopes of understanding his own jump from one to the other. And another woman cannot stop obsessively checking her ex’s social media accounts. Nzinga answers all of these questions and more in our first Ask Me Anything of Season 2.