Therapy wasn't good enough...so here we are!

Welcome to the very first episode of The Marionette Dolls. This is our introduction to who we are, why this podcast exists, and what we hope it becomes.

In this episode, you’ll meet your hosts, Sarah and Crystal, and hear the stories that shaped this space. From lived experience with trauma, recovery, military service, and mental health to academic and professional goals in psychology, this podcast was built on the belief that education is power. Not power over others, but power over our own understanding.

The Marionette Dolls is a psychology-based, research-driven podcast that stays neutral. No politics. No religion. No agendas. Just honest conversations about the human mind, mental health, and how our past experiences pull our “strings.” Our goal is to help you recognize those strings and learn how to cut the ones that no longer serve you.

We’ll explore:

• Mental health topics through real research
• DSM-5 disorders in an educational, non-diagnostic way
• Trauma, coping, and healing
• How misinformation affects mental health
• Why thinking for yourself matters

This episode sets the foundation for everything to come, including our bonus series:

• Psychobabble – serial killer psychology and profiling
•  Quirkology: the strange habit files– rewatch and psychological breakdowns of My Strange Addiction as well as listener tails
• Glitch in the Matrix – conspiracy theories and the psychology behind belief

This podcast is about curiosity over judgment, education over fear, and compassion over shame.

You don’t need a degree to be here.
 You just need a willingness to learn.

Welcome to The Marionette Dolls.
Let’s start cutting strings.

marionette.dolls.podcast@gmail.com

Music by PIXBAY: artist: alanajordan

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Doll House, a space where we explore the quiet threads that shape us, trauma, healing, memory, and the slow return to ourselves. Some episodes touch on difficult subjects, including abuse or self-harm, so please listen with care and honor your own pace.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

If anything you hear feels too heavy, pause and breathe. You are not meant to carry this alone. In the United States, support is available by calling or texting 988. If you're listening from elsewhere, please reach out to your local Crisis Hotline. This podcast offers reflection, not therapy, and is meant to support professional care. When you're ready, let's begin.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

Make danger feel like a lucky chuck. I sit around, but here I stay. Applauding your wicked little plan.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Hey everyone, and welcome to the Marionette Dolls. I'm Sarah.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

And I'm Crystal. This is our very first episode, and this one is all about who we are and why this podcast exists.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

We wanted to create a space that is psychology-based, research-driven, and completely neutral. No politics, no religion, no agendas, just education, understanding, and real conversations about mental health.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

We're not here to tell you what to believe. We're not here to sway you. We're here to help you think for yourself.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

The name Marionette Doll comes from the ideas that we all have strings: trauma, upbringing, social media, misinformation, relationships, fear, survival instincts. All of that pulls us in different directions. And this podcast is about learning how to recognize those strings. And how to cut the ones that no longer serve us.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

We'll be talking about real psychology, real DSM V topics, real research, and real life experiences.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Not to diagnose anyone, not to label anyone, but to give you the tools, understanding, and resources so that you know when and how to seek help.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

In a world full of misinformation, we want to be a place where you can trust that the information is thoughtful, ethical, and grounded in science.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

You don't need a degree to be here. You just need curiosity and honesty. So whether you're here to learn, heal, understand yourself, or just explore how the human mind works. You belong here. Welcome to Marionette Dolls.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Let's start cutting strings. So, Sarah, do you want to tell us a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Yes, I am a retired military vet. I was retired after 14 years of service. I had a rollover hit and run, unfortunately, that caused a brain injury. And I had to see eight doctors for like months, months and months and months. So they were like, Yeah, we can't do that basically with the military. It didn't fit their schedule. So they medically retired me, which honestly is a blessing in disguise because I get more time with my kids. I get to go back to school to pursue a degree that I actually like. Whereas in the military, I did my CCAF, which was in hotel, restaurant, and fitness management. And then I worked on a business degree because I didn't really know what I wanted at the time. I was doing an MLM with unique and doing makeup and doing fun stuff with that. But after my accident, I had some vision issues. So it made me frustrated to continue on trying to do my makeup. And like my husband's a saint. He bought me these little glasses that like flip down on the left side. You can do the makeup on the left side and then flip the uh that side up and then put it down and do the other side. But it was still irritating. So I decided that's just maybe not what I want to do anymore. So I pivoted. I went back to school for psychology. Why you may ask? Yeah, why? Is because um I was with this program called SAPRA, it's sexual assault prevention response. And I became a victim advocate. I originally was afraid to do it because I was like, I was a foster kid, I had a lot of trauma that I was healing from. I also had a sexual assault that happened while I was in the military that I didn't report until actually after becoming a victim advocate, which was like 10 years after the fact, because I was just victim blaming myself and convinced myself that it wasn't worth the effort. But, anyways, healing now and decided, you know, I want to help people that have been through what I've been through, maybe foster care, different things, and help them grow. So psychology is where I'm majoring in. I hope to graduate at the end of May with my bachelor's and then go into grad school. I applied, so here's my fingers crossed that I make it into the licensed mental health counseling at the university I decided to go to. And I am going to try to pursue a neuropsychology degree, depending on if I get burnt down or not. We will we'll see. So um another day. We will save that for another time. Of course, I will talk more about my TBI and foster care and all that stuff throughout the episode. So I don't want to give everything up front right now. But Crystal, is there anything you would like to kind of tell or talk about yourself to kind of introduce everybody to who you are and all that good stuff?

SPEAKER_01 5:27

So I am a stylist by trade. I wanted to be so many other things, like a police officer, a mortician, brain surgeon, but that was way too much pressure, like way too much pressure.

SPEAKER_00 5:42

Yeah, that's why I'm going the psychology route, to be honest, because I'm like, ugh, I don't know if I can do a brain surgery. Too much. Yeah. So stylist, I am. Yeah, that's okay. You can do my hair now that I'm out of the military and make it all crazy and cool, be your little guinea pig. A lot of guinea pigging.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Yeah. I'm a mother to five amazing children. Two are bonus, three are mine.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

I'm surprised. Why so many children? I'm just kidding. I know plenty of people that have a lot of kids that are doing just fine. So no judgment there. What? But I can only handle my two. I just I don't know how you do it, girl. Anyway.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Um I have one with the TISM and two with ADHD, and one who might might have ADHD, but we're just seeing how she plays out because she's still young, so maybe she's just a wild child. She's the last one. She's the baby, so we're thinking maybe she's just wild. I am a domestic abuse survivor, a mental and by mental no, I gotta redo that part. That's why I am a domestic abuse survivor, mental and physical. I am a sexual abuse and sex trafficking survivor. And it sounds like I'm saying survivor a lot, but that's what it is and was. I was surviving and having to learn to break the survivor mentality and go to like a normal state and breaking out of fight or flight.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Yeah, and we will talk more about that later on, too. Fight or flight, how like cortisol works and your system and all that good stuff.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

So and how to like unlearn the toxicity that comes from that, like what you build with relationships and how you interact with everyday life.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

Yeah, so basically you can't really change how people respond or how they are towards you, but you can basically how you respond to them, like is what matters and whatnot. And how to be in the present and not living in the past. Exactly. And try not to steer your emotions off of past trauma.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

So that's why we have this podcast. So hopefully we can help others and encourage and enlighten in some aspects. Again, if you or someone you know is struggling, reaching out to your local help center or calling 988 to kind of get some help if you're struggling, because we are not here to like give that type of help.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

Right. We're here to help give you the information again as a resource-based, research-based, in a neutral state, hopefully, so that you can figure out hmm, this might this diagnosis might be something I need to look into because that sounds so familiar to me. And you can seek those opportunities, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Instead of if you're like feeling alone and stuff like that, the you the to know that there's other people out there that went through the same thing is a big help. Like knowing that there's others, you're not like you're not victim shaming or blaming yourself like a lot of us do. A lot of us wait to the last possible minute to even say anything because we blame ourselves. Like, oh, if I wasn't wearing this, that wouldn't have happened. Right. Or if I wasn't in this place, if I just wasn't there, that if I would have done what I was supposed to do.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

If you ever find yourself in that mindset, though, to kind of give you a little bit of plug, you can use that with anything, really. If you weren't in that place, yeah, maybe it wouldn't have happened. But at the same time, you were in that place. It did happen. You can't control what the person did to you, but you control how you react and how you heal. And taking the steps towards healing, even if it's just listening to this podcast being maybe your first step or seeking out a therapist, it's extremely important to take those steps towards helping better yourself.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Exactly. And not being so rah at myself.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Yeah, don't blame yourself. But there's way too much things going on out there to constantly put yourself as the blamed blamed party. And of course, take the blame if it is something that is, take accountability for yourself if it's something that is something that you're contributing to, obviously. But as for like sexual assault, you cannot control or domestic violence how somebody or what somebody does to you, but you control how you're healing, unfortunately, or how you react to the situation as well, yeah, and future relationships as well, and hopefully be a better healed yourself, and not so trauma-souped, trauma-souped, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

So we also, though, are gonna be talking about our bonus content.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

Oh, the bonus content, the bonus content, subscribers, subscribers, bonus content, right? Oh my gosh, me and my darn stims.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

So we're gonna be doing a couple series, and it's gonna probably be like a monthly, quarterly type of thing as we start to go. Our first one is gonna be Psycho Babble, where we talk about serial killers.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

Yes, I love talking about serial killers, but we don't want to be a true crime podcast. This is just a bonus series for our paid subscribers. Or do we? Don't tempt me. Anyone.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Or we just talk about how what brought them here, what brought them to do what they did, if there was anything that could have been maybe prevented, maybe if they got the help that they needed, or what they were diagnosed with, possibly.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Or what they could be diagnosed with with according to the DSM 5's current standards. Yes. And then another episode is called, or not, I'm sorry, not episodes, series is called Quircology, The Strange Habit Files, which is going to be basically a rewatcher of the TV show, My Strange Addictions, and just talking about what their addiction was, how that plays into psychology in that different realm, what they were maybe diagnosed with or helped with to stop doing those bad behaviors. And basically, yeah, just basically see. Hopefully, we can find people that were on this show and see where they're at in a given update, or if they're willing to check our show notes and send us an email, they can message us and say, Hey, you want to interview me? I was on the show, and we would absolutely love that. And I'm sure there's plenty of people who absolutely want to do that. So or maybe if you have a strange addiction and you'd like us to talk about it. Of course, I cannot diagnose or anything like that because I am not licensed in any state. So but we would love to talk about it. Of course, we would love to talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

All right, what was the last one? And then our last one is gonna be the glitch in the matrix, where we're gonna talk about conspiracies. And I know how you like conspiracy theories. I love conspiracies and maybe like ghostly things, stuff that goes bump in the night. Maybe you saw something that was there but not there, but might actually be there.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Yeah, just kind of like weird things that you can't explain by science in like maybe like pseudoscience-y things, kind of like that's there, but it's not. We're not gonna like yuck your yum or anything, but we might look at you a little sideways. I'm just kidding, I'm not like just mimics. Oh, flesh page. Anyways, we're gonna talk about a lot of different things when it comes to the moth man. Oh, maybe. I don't know. We're gonna have to see. That's her thing. That's her side of the thing. I'm more of the serial killer, so that's gonna be more of mine. And then as time goes on, we're hoping we can extend content and give you more of what you're looking for. Of course, the glitch in the matrix as well is these are listener tales. So that's basically you write in, tell us what maybe have happened has happened to you, and just kind of so we can or anything you'd like us to like kind of discuss. Discuss, yeah, and topics, like you know. If we don't get any submissions, we will probably go to Reddit and check out what they have.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

The dark web of Reddit.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

I don't know how deep I want to dive in there.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

So much deeper.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

So again, if you were interested in this type of content, the bonus content, the bonus content for the subscribers, then please check out our page. See, we probably will start this in February time frame, the actual additional content.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

So that comes out for y'all to hear what we are saying now.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Exactly. So if this is stuff that you're interested in, things that you vibe with, or even if you don't vibe with it and you know somebody else who does, feel free to like, subscribe, share. And if you hate ads, oh yeah, we recommend subscribing. Yes, because that's gonna be the ad-free option for you.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

So as well as I think they let you download and save for later and all this extra, like you're able to see things ahead of time.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

I'd have to we have to dive deeper in that and see before we promise anything specific. Yes, but for sure it's gonna be that's a different platform, anyways. So, yeah, so if you're interested, please, please, please, please send it out to your friends on social media, share us, get us out there so we can hopefully reach the right people who needs the help.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Or maybe they just like what we're saying, or maybe they resonate with them as well.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Exactly. So, again, this was just our introductory one. Our next one should be dropping on Wednesdays, and find us on social media. We we'll hopefully have a TikTok, we'll be on Facebook, Instagram, all the good stuff, and post hopefully some QA's and so on and so forth. We'll work that out as we go, but we just want to make sure that we are creating a space for people to be able to come, share their thoughts, ideas without being judged. And if you're gonna be not so nice, I really don't want you in my comments, and I honestly wouldn't want you as a subscriber or a follower because again, this is for people who are wanting to work on themselves, understand more about psychology, different disabilities, different mental health issues out there. And we're not gonna again take no political or religious angle because that is way too hot of a topic. And again, we're not trying to persuade you in any way to be a certain way, but to help yourself and seek out the help and avenues you need. And that's a wrap on our very first episode of Marionette Dolls. Thanks so much for joining us and getting to know who we are and what we're all about. We're really excited to have you along for this journey. Just remember, this space is for learning and understanding. So let's keep it kind, keep it respectful, no need for any negative comments.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Yeah, let's just take care of each other. We're here to learn and grow. And if you enjoyed this episode, definitely hit that like button, subscribe, and follow us so you don't miss any future episodes.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

And if you have any thoughts, comments, feel free to share them. Just keep it friendly. We can't wait to dive in for more topics with you. Thanks for being here, and we'll see you the next time on the Marinette dolls.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Take care, everyone. Okay, bye.