Trauma Industrial Complex and the stories we tell ourselves about our wounds with Darren McGarvey

The Proper Mental Podcast

Welcome to episode 213 with Darren McGarvey, who is an author, musician, social commentator and journalist.

Darren grew up in Pollok on the south side of Glasgow, and has lived through extreme poverty, addiction and homelessness. He wrote about his life and experiences in his first book ‘Poverty Safari’ which received critical acclaim for its insights into poverty and inequality.

His upcoming book ’Trauma Industrial Complex’ is due out in August and this episode I chat to Darren about the modern phenomenon of lived experience and sharing trauma stories online.

We chat about Darren’s experience of talking publicly about his life and what happened to him after “Poverty Safari” was an instant bestseller and he suddenly become well known for the things that he had been through.

We talk about how social media has produced a culture of oversharing, why telling your story can get in the way of recovery and how this type of advocacy might just have fuelled other modern trends like misinformation and harmful mental health advice.

And we talk about why people might feel the need to share their trauma, why there is such a market for it, the hidden consequences of barring your soul and things like victim hood, avoidance and addiction.

I’m a big fan of Darren’s work, in all its forms, so it was great to chat to him about his new book. As someone who spends a lot of time, sharing stories and talking publicly about my own mental health, this was a fascinating conversation to be a part of!

You can listen now wherever you get your podcasts from and you can pre-order Trauma Industrial Complex: How Oversharing Becomes a Product in the Digital Age, wherever you get your books from!

Follow Darren on Instagram @darren_mcgarvey or X @lokiscottishrap

Learn more at www.darrenmcgarvey.com and preorder here Trauma Industrial Complex

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Thanks for listening!