🚀 THE TRUTH IS COMING OUT—AND IT’S MESSY. 🛑

Dr. Sandy Cox on Surviving Ish: Politics, Trauma, Patriarchy, Community & the Emoji Problem

Host David welcomes psychiatrist Dr. Sandy Cox (who he jokes about calling “Dr. Sandstorm”) to the Surviving Ish podcast for a wide-ranging conversation that moves from mental health to politics, trauma, and community. Dr. Cox shares her background treating conditions across the psychiatric spectrum and reflects on how psychiatry has evolved since she finished residency in 1996, including increased access to non-pharmaceutical modalities beyond medication and ECT. They discuss the current climate of fear around speaking openly, referencing public figures losing jobs over jokes, and Dr. Cox describes feeling isolated as a single woman trying to find like-minded community while worrying about safety—down to whether a trans pride sticker on her Tesla could put her at risk.

The episode critiques political hypocrisy and escalating extremism, touching on healthcare cuts (including Medicaid impacts, nursing homes and hospitals closing), and the stress and retraumatization many felt from Donald Trump’s public rhetoric, including the Access Hollywood tape involving a Days of Our Lives actress David admires. Dr. Cox speaks as a “Mama Bear” with a trans daughter and describes ongoing cognitive dissonance and constant background anxiety. They connect these issues to patriarchy and religious upbringing, contrasting nature-based spirituality and feminine archetypes with Abrahamic religious dominance, and discuss how churches and government can demand morality while violating it.

Both share personal experiences with religion and abuse, including Dr. Cox’s abusive childhood and later sexual assault by a cisgender heterosexual married man, and David’s experience as a survivor of a brutal rape and hate crime and the rise in public slurs since Trump returned to power. They argue marginalized groups are scapegoated while powerful men evade accountability, and Dr. Cox calls on white women to resist church-driven patriarchy, raise boys with boundaries and equality, and stand up publicly for marginalized communities. The conversation also covers misconceptions about “trans gangs,” ICE interventions where women often step in, and the need to rebuild real-world community through conversation, mutual support, barter, and local resilience (community gardens), with Dr. Cox also referencing astrology and predicting difficult years ahead. David’s “surviving ish” for the week is confusion and conflict over emojis and misread social media reactions, which leads into how he and Dr. Cox first connected on TikTok. The episode ends with a rapid-fire question about self-care, with Dr. Cox describing her routine of gratitude lists, meditation, herbs, walking, the gym, beach sunsets, and a recommendation to follow Native American two-spirit creator Auntie Jace for morning smudging and meditation content. #SurvivingIsh #DrSandyCox #MentalHealth #Psychiatry #TraumaRecovery #PTSD #Patriarchy #ReligionDeconstruction #CommunityCare #LGBTQ #TransRights #Healthcare #Medicaid #Politics #TikTok #Podcast

00:00 Welcome to Surviving Ish + Meet Dr. Sandy Cox
01:33 Sandy’s Psychiatry Journey: From Residency to New Therapy Modalities
04:30 Rebels, “Kissing the Ring,” and Finding Community in a Polarized World
08:46 Safety, Speech, and the Tesla Sticker: Navigating Public Backlash
11:48 Politics, Medicaid Cuts, and the Cost of Cruelty
13:27 From Baptist Church to Pagan Roots: A Patriarchy Rant
17:23 Church Hypocrisy, Questioning Faith, and Being Shamed for Who You Love
21:59 Abuse, Sexual Violence, and Who Society Really Blames
32:05 Days of Our Lives, the Access Hollywood Ta