Mental Nesting
Mental Nesting is the gentle space for sensitive adults who've outgrown the "hustle through your healing" mentality. Hosted by licensed therapist and writer Barbara Guimaraes, this podcast explores the messy, nonlinear reality of rebuilding your life after trauma, heartbreak, and the kind of personal upheaval that leaves you questioning everything.
If you're someone who's done therapy, read the books, and tried all the self-help strategies but still feel like you're figuring it out as you go—this podcast is for you. Barbara brings both her clinical expertise and lived experience of navigating bipolar disorder, relationship trauma, coming out later in life, and the quiet courage it takes to choose yourself when no one taught you how.
Each episode feels like a conversation with your most emotionally intelligent friend—the one who sees your sensitivity as a superpower, not a flaw. Through vulnerable storytelling, practical frameworks, and her signature "soft but unfiltered" approach, Barbara helps you reconnect with your inner child, build unshakable self-trust, and create a life that feels authentically yours.
This isn't about optimizing or fixing yourself. It's about learning to be human—messily, beautifully, exactly as you are. Because sometimes the most radical thing you can do is slow down, turn inward, and remember that healing doesn't have to hurt to be real.
Perfect for highly sensitive people, therapy graduates, late bloomers, and anyone who's ever felt "too much" in a world that demands you be less. Welcome to your emotional homecoming.
Mental Nesting
Dating with Bipolar Disorder: Medication, Intimacy, and Finding Partners Who Understand
What happens when the medication that stabilizes your mood kills your sex drive? How do you explain invisible symptoms to someone who's never experienced mental health challenges? In this deeply personal episode, I share my journey of dating with bipolar disorder—from misdiagnosis and lithium toxicity to learning what "safe touch" really means.
I walk you through the medication roller coaster that nobody warns you about, the impossible conversations about physical intimacy versus sexual touch, and why explaining executive dysfunction to a partner can feel like speaking different languages. If you've ever felt "too much" for wanting emotional understanding, or guilty for medication side effects you can't control, this episode is for you.
You'll learn:
- How bipolar medication affects intimacy and sex drive in relationships
- The difference between physical touch for comfort and sexual expectations
- Why explaining invisible disabilities requires emotional labor partners don't always understand
- How to advocate for your needs without feeling demanding
- What to look for in partners who can hold space for mental health complexity
- Why sensitivity isn't a flaw—it's precision
- How relationship structures can expand as you grow and understand yourself better
This isn't about finding perfect partners. It's about recognizing fundamental differences in communication styles, trusting patterns over promises, and learning that messy healing is still healing.
Whether you're navigating bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, PTSD, or loving someone who is—this conversation will help you understand what real support looks like in the 167 hours between therapy sessions.
Content note: This episode medication side effects, panic attacks, and relationship challenges.
Thank you for being here, beautiful soul.
If this episode resonated with you, I'd be so grateful if you'd leave a review—it helps other sensitive souls find this gentle space we're creating together.
Connect with me:
- Instagram: @mentalnesting_
- Substack: mentalnesting.substack.com
- Email: hello@mentalnesting.com
Join The Nest
The Nest is my free community where we have conversations like this and you don’t have to explain yourself as much.
Want to work together?
I offer gentle, nervous-system-informed support for therapy-experienced and sensitive adults. Learn more about coaching and community offerings at homecoming.mentalnesting.com.
Remember: Messy healing is still healing. You don't have to be done to be enough.
Mental Nesting Podcast: For sensitive adults who've outgrown the hustle
