Some people write songs. Others write Shakespearean level tragedies.
In this episode of Beat The Mental Health Out Of It! (AKA “BTMHOOI!”), host Nicholas Wichman (“The DEFECTIVE Schizoaffective”) sits down with dear friend and fellow musician Trevor Wischmeyer (“Sympathy For The Typewriter”) for a candid conversation about BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder), addiction, relationships, recovery, and the healing that can happen when you turn your life into music — without glamorizing the wreckage.
Trevor breaks down what BPD truly feels like from the inside: the intensity, the attachment wounds, the emotional spikes, the fear of abandonment, and how it can show up in relationships. We also talk about the ugly reality of stigma around BPD — why so many people openly hate or demonize people with the diagnosis — and Trevor validates how hard BPD behaviors can be for others while still reminding listeners of the obvious truth: people with BPD are still people, and living with this diagnosis can be brutally painful, especially when you’re constantly treated like a villain.
We also go deep on songwriting craft and recovery. Trevor shares how he turns his BPD experience into music that’s honest, poetic, and brutally human — and why he believes he wouldn’t be able to write what he writes without BPD. We talk process, ruthless editing, integrity, and how to use art as catharsis instead of exploitation. We also touch on our shared history with church culture and how we both drifted away while still chasing meaning in our own ways.
And I say it plainly: Trevor is one of the best lyricists I’ve ever heard. I genuinely put him in the same category as the likes of Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and James McMurtry.
In this episode, we talk about:
Guest link:
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sympathyforthetypewriter?_r=1&_t=ZT-92K5aq2ULVn
Go listen to Trevor’s music on TikTok — his writing is the real deal, and you’ll hear exactly what we mean the second you do.
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Podcast artwork by Ryan Manning
