Should you try IV ketamine? I’ve lived with bipolar for over thirty years, and after 18 IV ketamine infusions, I share my personal experience of ketamine therapy for bipolar depression, how I support neuroplasticity in the two weeks after every infusion, and why ketamine and psychedelics are in the news, from the United Nations to the FDA.

I am not a clinician, and nothing in this episode is medical advice. Please make any decision about your treatment together with your psychiatrist or mental health professional.

This month, the use of ketamine for depression and psychedelics was discussed at a mental health leadership forum at the United Nations, and this week I shared my lived experience as the patient on a panel hosted by Ember Health. Eighteen infusions in, ketamine is a foundational part of my mental healthcare. People ask me one question more than any other: “Should I try IV ketamine?” My answer might not be what you expect.

If you live with bipolar depression or depression, love someone who does, or are curious about ketamine therapy, this conversation is for us. Share this with someone who is considering ketamine therapy.

In this episode you will learn:

• IV ketamine for bipolar depression: what 18 infusions have changed in my mental healthcare
• Ketamine and medication: how I went from four medications to one mood stabilizer, working with my psychiatrist
• My honest answer to “Should I try IV ketamine?”
• Ketamine and neuroplasticity: the daily practices I use in the two weeks after every infusion, when the brain is more able to form new connections
• Why I set an intention before each ketamine infusion
• How the ketamine and psychedelics conversation becomes more meaningful when it comes back to everyday life
• Why I submitted a public comment to the FDA about IV ketamine for depression and insurance coverage

Listen to my ketamine series on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts:
Part 1, Episode 69, 30 Years of Trying to Fix My Brain: https://youtu.be/cvlg94ZfSpg
Part 2, Episode 70, What Happened When I Said Yes: https://youtu.be/2OBG69hw9h4

Part 3, Episode 71, What’s On The Other Side of IV Ketamine: https://youtu.be/arpbHu18YXQ]

I am a patient at Ember Health, with no affiliation and no payment of any kind.
Ember Health: https://emberhealth.co/

Connect with Lulu:
Website: https://www.luluessey.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lulu.essey/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucille-marie-essey/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lulu.essey

This is an inside job. Please share this episode with people you love. And follow while you are here 💛

What makes you human in the age of AI? As AI-generated music, images and AI slop fill our feeds, this episode is about AI anxiety, everyday creativity for our mental health, and the part of us that is irreplaceable. So much of what we scroll past is now made by machines, and many of us are actively looking for things made by real people.

In August, Australia's music charts banned songs made wholly by AI, after an AI cover of Madonna's Like a Prayer climbed the dance charts. The Australian Recording Industry Association said it wanted to promote the human nature of artistry. The flood of content like this is why Merriam-Webster chose slop as its 2025 word of the year. Slop is their word for low-quality digital content produced in large amounts by AI.

This moment brings The Inside Job, Out in the World to a close. Each week, I have taken one moment from out in the world and paired it with a past episode that speaks directly to what is underneath it. Because the work we do on this podcast, building Mental Fitness, self-worth and Self-Love from the inside out, is not done in isolation. It shows up in the world, in our culture, in our news.

After the introduction you will hear Episode 48, which I recorded a year ago. It is pure joy. I talk about AI directly and why I choose to treat it as a partnership and a collaboration. AI is task-orientated. We are not. AI needs us to exist. We do not need AI in order to exist. I share how everyday creativity rewires our brain and helps calm anxiety, with insight from Martha Beck, why most creative blocks are perfectionism in disguise, and why adults need play too. I'd like to be clear: the worries about AI and jobs are real, and they deserve their own serious conversation. This episode is about what makes us human.

If AI has left you feeling anxious, or life has left you feeling flat and uncreative, this conversation is for us. This series is not about the exceptional. It's about the human. About us as humans.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why Australia banned AI-generated songs from its music charts
• What makes us human in the age of AI, and why I choose to treat AI as a partnership
• Why every one of us is creative, whatever our job title
• How everyday creativity rewires your brain and helps calm anxiety
• Martha Beck's insight on creativity as a balm for anxiety
• Why most creative blocks are perfectionism in disguise
• Why adults need play too, and what my childhood pile-ups taught me about joy
• One simple experiment to try this week: disrupt one automatic pattern

Connect with Lulu:
Website: https://www.luluessey.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lulu.essey/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucille-marie-essey/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lulu.essey

This is an inside job. Please share this episode with people you love. And follow while you are here 💛

Does your sleep tracker tell you how you slept before you ask yourself how you feel? Orthosomnia, an obsession with the perfect sleep score, is growing, and this episode is about trusting ourselves and listening to our body again. When we need a screen to tell us how we feel, the data has started to outrank our knowing.

The BBC recently shared the story of a woman who spent three years obsessed with her sleep score. One night she was awake from 1 AM until 5 AM, and in the morning her watch congratulated her on a great night's sleep. The device said one thing. Her body knew another. Sleep expert Dr Neil Stanley told the BBC that when a tracker gives us a number, the number becomes a target, and we start worrying about our sleep based on figures.

That moment continues The Inside Job, Out in the World, my four-week series. Each week I take one moment from out in the world and pair it with a past episode that speaks directly to what is underneath it. Because the work we do on this podcast, building Mental Fitness, self-worth and Self-Love from the inside out, is not done in isolation. It shows up in the world, in our culture, in our news. This is week three.

After the introduction you will hear Episode 76 in full. I recorded it after a visit to a sleep specialist at New York University's Langone Health, where I expected a sleep study and was told to stop watching the clock and listen to my body. I share how wellness terms like nervous system regulation, polyvagal theory, co-regulation and somatic practices can pull us into our heads and away from our bodies, and why we do not need the terminology to do deep, real inner work. I'd like to be clear: the science of sleep is real and it matters, and diagnosed sleep disorders need medical care. What I am looking at is where we are placing our attention.

If you have ever let a number tell you how you feel, this conversation is for us. This series is not about the exceptional. It's about the human. About us as humans.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• What orthosomnia is, and why doctors are seeing more of it

• How a number on a sleep tracker becomes a target, and why that can keep us up at night

• What a sleep specialist told me when I went looking for answers about my sleep

• Why reading about the nervous system can take us further away from listening to our body

• Why you can do deep, real inner work without ever using the words nervous system regulation

• Why simple acts of self-compassion, like a hand on your heart or a walk, count as doing the work

• The one question to ask when reading about your health leaves you feeling worse

Connect with Lulu:

Website: https://www.luluessey.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lulu.essey/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucille-marie-essey/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lulu.essey

This is an inside job. Please share this episode with people you love. And follow while you are here 💛