Disorderland

By Dr. Ayesha Khan & Jesse Meadows•disorderland.substack.com

Health & Fitness

Mental Health

News

Politics

Take a ride through the weird and terrible world of capitalist mental health

disorderland.substack.com

Last refreshed: August 16th, 2025 at 7:33 AM ⓘ

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Episodes

E08: Horror Therapy

Tidings, ghouls! Gather round to listen to a demon (Jess) and a demon clown (Ayesha) discuss a shared love of horror. We talk about how microdosing on fear through film can be grounding, how the genre uses disability and madness for cheap shock value, movies that subvert those shitty tropes, and all the big, existential questions horror movies ask us to grapple with. !! SPOILERS FOR: Hereditary, Grave Encounters, War of the Worlds, The Babadook, The Power Show Notes * More on Jesse’s Self-(S)car...

Oct 31, 2022•51 min

E07: It's Not You, It's My ADHD

Jess and Ayesha discuss a New York Times article that wants us to think all our relationship problems are caused by an undiagnosed brain disorder. Tangents include: navigating conflict in relationships without reducing our loved ones to a diagnostic label, the usefulness and limits of the word “neurotypical”, how very not cute those #ADHDWife TikToks are, misapplying the concept of “object permanence” to relationships, and why we keep forgetting to put the laundry in the dryer. See disorderland....

Oct 21, 2022•59 min

E06: Lactobacillus Can't Cure Depression

Jess keeps getting Instagram ads for some probiotic supplement that’s supposed to cure depression — luckily, we have an in-house microbiologist to consult! Ayesha critiques the studies behind Neuralli, talks stressed-out microbes, and explains why trying to fix social problems with one patented microbe is never going to work. Find detailed notes, sources, and further readings at disorderland.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get ac...

Sep 23, 2022•31 min

E05: How To Be An ADHD Boss

Are you eating enough blueberries to optimize your dopamine? Did you make sure to take a timed cold shower this morning after your Peloton workout to increase your neurochemical satisfaction by 500%?? Are you manifesting hard enough???? FIND OUT TODAY! We’re taking a dive into the world of ADHD Boss content on TikTok, a pseudoscientific iteration of some very old bootstrap brainwash. LINKS: Neoliberalism and the Commodification of Mental Health paper Capitalism Loves Neurodiversity, As Long As I...

Aug 28, 2022•1 hr 14 min

E04: Diagnosis Is Not A Privilege w/ Maggie Leppert

What’s it like to be a survivor of psychiatric oppression? What was the a-ha moment that made you see the system for what it was? We asked our listeners recently and got some great responses , a few of which you’ll hear in the beginning of this episode, and then we talk to psych survivor Maggie Leppert ( @thebooksmartbimbo ) about psychiatric gaslighting and wokewashing, why talking about informed consent is not med-shaming, how psychiatry co-opted anti-stigma work from survivors, and her work o...

Jul 16, 2022•1 hr 37 min

E03: Genome Wide, Ass Studies

Ayesha explains what’s wrong with all these genome wide association studies that keep saying they found the ADHD genes (or the schizophrenia genes, or the bipolar genes, or the autism genes..) We also get into the ways that capitalism skews scientific research results, why racists love genetic research so much, and what responsibility scientists have to question their questions. You can find our notes for this episode and further readings on this topic at disorderland.substack.com . Be sure to g...

Jun 07, 2022•1 hr 22 min

E02: Kill the Executive In Your Head w/ Marta Rose

Is executive function “a set of capitalist values masquerading as skills”? Neurodivergent educator and artist Marta Rose thinks so! We sat down with her to talk about: * her journey from diagnosis to critical disability theory * how creativity research and design thinking can offer us alternatives to the pathologizing framework of executive function * The ADHD Industrial Complex!!! * how much of our “symptoms” are actually just shame & trauma * what it’s like to build community on the intern...

Apr 18, 2022•1 hr 34 min

E01: Pathologize Me, TikTok

Ayesha and Jess take a stroll through ADHDtok to understand the trend of self-pathologization — why has it become so popular to turn your personality traits into symptoms of disease? What purpose does a psychiatric diagnosis serve, and what are the limitations of defining your mental suffering and anguish solely through a medical lens? Why does capitalism absolutely thrive on all these new mental illness micro-identities? Plus: we get a little personal about our own experiences with diagnosis. F...

Mar 28, 2022

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